Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 - The East Cork Journal
Who will be East Cork Junior A Hurling Champions 2011?
FEATURE
33
Cashman BOOKMAKERS
THE REBEL BOOKMAKERS FREEPHONE 1800 624 724 Best of luck to both teams - Carraig na bhFearr and Dungourney, in the East Cork Junior A Hurling Final this weekend BETTING ON ALL LOCAL GAMES
MIDLETON GAA CLUB Carraig na bhFearr have a sound net minder in Conor Hegarty, while Tomás Sheehan, Dee O’Driscoll and Daniel Coleman have hardly put a foot wrong in front of him. Richard Mullins was a tower of strength at centre back, with the powerful Martin Hickey and the stylish Paul Geaney beside him. At midfield Noel Mullins and Aidan Hegarty formed a hugely effective midfield pairing and could team up again on Saturday.
Gerry O’Connell, with his In attack, Shane Horgan led the umpiring team will referee the line well with Paul O’Keeffe and East Cork Junior A Hurling Final Con Burns doing well on the wings. Inside them full forward know what to expect and they and team captain, Paul Murphy, should give a good account of proved a handful while his cor- themselves. ner men of Aidan Dorgan and The ever reliable Kevin Hegarty free taker, John Sullivan were keeps goal for Dungourney while Eoin Ahearn, Brendan hugely impressive. Carrig, too, can call on a strong Hegarty and Mark Hegarty have bench with players such as Brian done a superb job beside him. Hegarty and Ronan Spillane, Centre back, James Leahy has Cian Dorgan, Colm O’Reilly been soundness personified, along with Timmy Geaney push- while on his flanks Paul Kelleher ing hard for a place in the start- and Jack Griffin have been in ing fifteen, which is a great magnificent form, and have contributed enormously to their problem to have. Dungourney, this year, have been march to this year’s decider. hit by immigration, losing a At midfield the livewire, Martin number of their panel, thus forc- Wall and Kevin Kelleher form a ing their management to throw a solid pairing while in attack, number of young guns in at the Shane Casey, Kenneth Kelleher, deep end, and boy has it paid off Niall Motherway, John O’Neill, for them. Jack Griffin, John Michael Hickey and Kevin have O’Neill, Niall Motherway and all done really well. On the Brian Hegarty have taken to this bench the experienced Frank championship like a duck to Hegarty and John Rohan offer water. The team has grown in options in attack, with Brian stature, and two wins over the Rodgers also pushing hard for inholders plus one over Midleton clusion. has seen them return to centre Both sides, I feel, are extremely stage. This time round they will well matched and it could all
come down to which side enjoys that little bit of luck to see who comes out on top. The rub of the green can be vital at times, and both Dungourney and Carraig na bhFearr will be hoping that it’s their turn on Saturday night. The final will be refereed by Jerry O’Connell from Lisgoold and it is a big honour for him. Jerry refereed the Munster Minor Hurling final between Waterford and Clare, and did a fine job of it.
Paths to the final
Dungourney 3-15 Castlemartyr 0-4 Dungourney 2-11 Midleton 0-14 Dungourney 1-13 Castlemartyr 0-7 Dungourney has played three games to reach this decider, and have been quite impressive amassing a total of 6 goals and 39 points and conceding just 1 goal and 26 points. Carraig na bhFearr has played four games to reach this decider after their draw with Lisgoold, and they, too, have been very impressive at times, scoring 2 goals and 39 points on the way to the final, while conceding 3 goals and 49 points in their four games. Carraig na bhFearr 0-17 Midleton 2-8 Carraig na bhFearr 1-14 Lisgoold 0-17 Carraig na bhFearr 1-11
Lisgoold 0-12 replay Carraig na bhFearr 0-17 Sarsfields 1-12
Both sides have plenty of match winners in their sides and, having gone against them in the semi final, I hope I am not putting the commentators curse on them by tipping Dungourney to come out on top and bring the ‘Jamsey Kelleher Cup’ back to the parish for the first time since 2006. Were Carraig na bhFearr to upset my prediction they would be bridging a four year gap since their only victory in 2008. It promises to be a cracking contest in Midleton on Saturday night and may hurling be the winner. To the victors go the spoils of course, but to some it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. Having lost last year’s final, I suspect that Dungourney may have the burning desire to come out on top in this one.
Both sides, of course, bring unbeaten championship records with them on Saturday night so, barring a draw, (which cannot be discounted) we should have new East Cork Junior ‘A’ Hurling Champions on Saturday night.
wishes both teams the best of luck in Saturday’s final Check out our website at www.midletongaa.com Contact us at 021-4631933
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The curtain-raiser for the East Cork Hurling Final on Saturday, September 10th will now be the Junior B Hurling Championship Round 2 game between Erin's Own and Aghada. Throw-in time is 4pm and the referee is Peter Hegarty (Cloyne).
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