Draw not enough to get St Caimin’s through

After being in the concluding stages of the competition for the past two years, St Caimin’s have failed to qualify from the group stage in this year’s Dr Harty Cup.

Despite recording a draw with Charleville CBS at Ballybrown on Wednesday afternoon, the Shannon school lost out by one point on score difference.
It was most disappointing for St Caimin’s given that Charleville scored their third goal in the third minute of injury time.
Meanwhile, St Flannan’s, already safely through to the quarter-finals, had no trouble in overcoming the challenge of De La Salle.

St Caimin’s            2-13
Charleville CBS            3-10
Leading by two points as the game drifted into injury time, St Caimin’s looked set for a quarter-final spot in this year’s title race. They held their opponents scoreless from the seventh minute of the half and, in the process, played some great hurling.
A magnificent goal from Alan Mulready five minutes from the end put them a point in front and the Sixmilebridge teenager quickly followed with a point to leave them two clear with three minutes of normal time to play.
A minute of injury time at most was expected but the referee allowed almost four minutes. In the third of these, Charleville centre-back David Reidy blasted the ball to the roof of the St Caimin’s net for a score that put the Shannon side out of the race.
St Caimin’s started well with early points from Shane Liddy and Sean Lynch before Aaron Cunningham struck for the opening goal. Charleville came storming back and after James O’Brien and Pa O’Callaghan had points, O’Callaghan struck for his team’s opening goal when he pounced after Mark Kavanagh’s shot for a point rebounded off the upright.
At the turn of the second quarter, O’Callaghan turned provider and after he had made a great run, James O’Brien scored their second goal.
The second quarter was evenly contested with each side scoring five points that left the half time score at 2-7 to 1-7 in favour of Charleville.
Each side managed three points in the third quarter but from here on, St Caimin’s held the upperhand. With Brian Carey, Shane Kelleher and Niall O’Connor to the fore in defence, they piled on the pressure and a brace of points from Cunningham left the minimum between the teams with 10 minutes to play.
Ten minutes from time, the Shannon side moved Alan Mulready to full-forward and five minutes from the end, he struck for a superb goal which he followed with a point, putting his side two clear. Charleville struck in injury time and St Caimin’s dream of a quarter-final place was over.
St Caimin’s: Ronan McAuley (Newmarket); Shane O’Leary (Cratloe), David Ryan (Newmarket), Brian Carey (Sixmilebridge); Craig O’Brien (Wolfe Tones), Niall O’Connor (Newmarket), Shane Kelleher (Newmarket); Frank Melody (Newmarket), Kevin McCafferty (Wolfe Tones); Shane Liddy (Newmarket) 0-1, Alan Mulready (Sixmilebridge) 1-1, David Collins (Cratloe); Sean Lynch (Sixmilebridge) 0-2, Aaron Cunningham (Wolfe Tones) 1-9, Conor Deasy (Sixmilebridge).
Sub: Shane Gleeson (Cratloe) for Collins.
Charleville CBS: TJ Garvey; Shane Butler, John Madigan, Jim Walsh; Alan Dennehy, David Reidy (1-0), Conor Twomey; Mark O’Loughlin, Darren Sheedy; John Morrissey, Mark Kavanagh (0-2), Timmy Rea; Pa O’Callaghan (1-4), James O’Brien (1-4), Dean Copps.
Subs: Gavin Kelleher for Copps; John Fitzgibbon for Morrissey;
Referee: Mike Mann, Ballybrown.

St Flannan’s            5-25
De La Salle            2-6
St Flannan’s had no difficulty in overcoming the challenge of an under-strength De La Salle in this tie played at Cahir. There was nothing at stake here as the Ennis side were already in the quarter-finals while De La Salle were out of the race.
The winners were well on their way to the play-off by the mid-point of this tie when they led 2-10 to 0-4.
Goalscorers on the day for St Flannan’s were Peter Duggan, Conor O’Gorman, Tony Kelly, Eoin Enright and substitute James Sweeney.
St Flannan’s: Paul Kennedy (Kilmaley); Seadna Morey (Sixmilebridge), Noel Purcell (Sixmilebridge), Conor O’Loughlin (Crusheen); Gearóid O’Connell (Ballyea), Stephen O’Halloran (Clarecastle), Enda Boyce (Cratloe); Gearóid Ryan (Clarecastle), Tony Kelly (Ballyea); Conor O’Gorman (Clarecastle); Cathal Doohan (Lissycasey), Peter Duggan (Clooney-Quin); Jack Browne (Ballyea) Alan O’Neill (Doora-Barefield), Eoin Enright (Kilmaley).
Subs: Jamie Malone (Corofin) for Kelly; James Sweeney (Éire Óg) for O’Gorman; Brian Clancy (Doora-Barefield) for Morey; Jamie Fitzgibbon (Crusheen) for O’Neill; Gordon Glynn (Ardrahan) for Browne.