Carrick-on-Suir CBS fall agonisingly short in Harty Cup opener in UL

TUS Dr Harty Cup - Group 5 - Round 2

Carrick-on-Suir CBS 0-17

Castletroy College 1-16

Carrick-on-Suir CBS's sojourn into Harty Cup hurling got off to a losing start as they fell to Limerick opposition in Castletroy College in this Group 5 clash played in the University of Limerick on Wednesday afternoon.

With this group containing just three teams, there was very little room for Carrick to feel their way into this level and needed to go all out for a win, with a big representation across three counties in Tipperary, Waterford, and Kilkenny on show.

They just fell short of the mark though, with Mark Field’s first-half goal for Castletroy the score which was all important, as Carrick were playing catch up all game and despite drawing level on a few occasions in the second half, they just couldn’t get the scores on the board to get a result from the game.

Despite the weather playing tricks on the match fixtures - which were all fixed for 4G pitches this week - the conditions were perfect for hurling in UL with not a drop of rain in sight as the teams could hurl with a lot of pace and space on the day.

Castletroy were the better team in the first half and by the 20th minute, they led 1-6 to 0-3 after a well-taken goal from Mark Field in the 11th minute had the Limerick school well in charge and well on top in all sectors.

The Tipperary school were very slack up front with Aaron O’Halloran operating at the back as a sweeper, and it didn’t really help them in that period as Cian Scully was commanding at the other end for Castletroy, and Carrick lived off of Niall O’Brien frees and a well-taken point from David Comerford.

To be honest, the South Tipperary school were lucky not to concede a few more goals in the first half as Castletroy opened them up on a few occasions but were either denied by the sharp figure of Shane Cronin in the goal or poor decision-making with the final pass or shot; Mark Field, in particular, proving to be a difficult proposition.

Carrick to their credit finished the half very well and somehow found themselves just one point adrift at half-time with five points on the trot in the last ten minutes, four split between Niall O’Brien and David Comerford while Stefan Tobin also opened his account in that scoring run to leave the game wide open at 1-6 to 0-8 at the interval.

There was no time wasted after the resumption by the Tipp school as they equalised twice in the first three minutes of the half thanks to a pair of fine scores from Gearoid Power and really, the momentum looked to have switched hands in the early parts of the half as Carrick were more dominant in open play.

Castletroy did manage to re-take the lead courtesy of a pair of Dara Ferland frees in the next five minutes and that two-point gap would prove to be too much for Carrick to bring back as every time the Tipp school found a seemingly big score, the Limerick men always found a reply and take the wind from their sails.

In particular, Robert O’Farrell was the main culprit as he hit two very important points in the final ten minutes when Carrick had hit scores, and despite some excellently taken points from Stefan Tobin, Andrew Phelan, and David Comerford, the Carrick CBS lads couldn’t muster the brust of unanswered scores needed and just fell short of the mark.

They will now face John The Baptist Community School in the final round in the coming weeks and will need to win to have a chance of progression as the other two teams in the group both now have wins on the board.

Carrick-on-Suir CBS: Shane Cronin (Piltown); Ben Moriarty (Piltown), Eoin Reid (Piltown), Cody Phelan (St Mollerans); Conor Shankley (Portlaw), Andrew Phelan (Piltown, 0-1), Dylan Barry (Carrick Swans); Eoin Hogan (Piltown), Darragh Dunne (Carrick Swans); Aaron O’Halloran (Carrick Swans), Gearoid Power (Piltown, 0-2), Sean Foley (Carrick Swans); Niall O’Brien (Piltown, 0-7f), Stefan Tobin (Carrick Swans, 0-3), David Comerford (St Mollerans, 0-4).

Subs used: Calum Smith (Carrick Swans) for Foley (45).

Castletroy College: Robbie Widger (Monaleen); Tom McCarthy (Monaleen), Paul Canny (Monaleen), Marcus Southern (Monaleen); Tom Darcy (Monaleen), Cian Scully (Monaleen), Denis Blackwell (Ahane); Robert O’Farrell (Kildimo/Pallaskenry, 0-5), Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen, 0-1); David Carr (Ahane), Dara Ferland (Monaleen, (0-8, 0-6f, 0-1 65), Harry McDermott (Monaleen); Blake Campbell (Na Piarsaigh), Cathal O’Meara (Ahane), Mark Field (Monaleen, 1-2).

Subs used: Cillian Clifford (Monaleen) for McDermott (40); Luke Ryan (Monaleen) for Carr (49).

Referee: John Bugler (Clare)