Reidy saves Charleville as St Caimin’s bow out
St Caimin’s needed to win, with Charleville ahead in the group by just a single point in scoring difference. And, as the game headed into injury-time, the Clare college led by two points, 2-12 to 2-10, courtesy of a rapid-fire 1-1 from county minor star Alan Mulready. Up stepped Charleville’s magnificent centre-back David Reidy, however, and, after Caimin’s keeper Ronan Mulcahy had stopped a goalbound shot from midfielder Darren Sheehy, the Athlacca star of the future pounced for the third Charleville goal, putting his side a point ahead.
Still it wasn’t over, however. Finding a third minute of injury-time,, referee Michael Mann awarded a free to Caimin’s just inside the 45m line, and up stepped another Clare minor star of this year, Aaron Cunningham – their man of the match – and drilled it over the bar. A draw, and definitely the right result because neither of these two superb sides deserved to lose. But heartache for Caimin’s, pipped at the post for the last eight spot, joy for a very young Charleville side.
St Caimin’s began at a blistering pace, with Aaron Cunningham causing havoc in the inside line of attack. They led 1-2 to 0-0 after six minutes, Cunningham with the goal, points coming from the hard-working Shane Liddy and Sean Lynch. It took Charleville until the eighth minute to raise a flag but when they finally did, they made a habit of it, scoring 2-2 without reply in the next 10 minutes, the deadly duo of James O’Brien and Pa O’Callaghan with 1-1 apiece.
From there to the break, however, it was tit-for-tat, both sides playing really good hurling despite a heavy sod. Five further points apiece were clocked up, Cunningham doing most of the damage for Caimin’s, O’Brien and O’Callaghan continuing to score for Charleville, along with impressive centre-forward Mark Kavanagh, leaving Charleville 2-7 to 1-7 ahead at the break.
Despite all the fine scores, both defences also featured some superb hurlers, and the third quarter saw scores hard to come by. A sequence of four Cunningham points, against three for Charleville (O’Callaghan, O’Brien, Kavanagh), then a cracking goal from Mulready, followed by an over-the-shoulder point by the same player, and the scene was set for that frantic finish.
David Reidy had been superb all through (as had been his wing-backs, Alan Dennehy and Conor Twomey) but now he was needed up front and when that half-chance came, he delivered, a shot rifled to the roof of the net.
Tough on Caimin’s, but that’s the beauty of the round-robin structure, the finest of margins can be decisive.
Scorers – Charleville CBS: J O’Brien 1-4, P O’Callaghan 1-4 (0-3 frees); D Reidy 1-0, M Kavanagh 0-2 (0-1 free).
St. Caimin’s: A Cunningham 1-9 (0-5 frees), A Mulready 1-1, S Lynch 0-2, S Liddy 0-1.
Charleville CBS: TJ Garvey; S Butler, J Madigan, J Walsh; A Dennehy, D Reidy, C Twomey; M O’Loughlin, D Sheehy; J Morrissey, M Kavanagh, T Rea; P O’Callaghan, J O’Brien, D Copps. Subs: G Kelleher (Copps 51), J Fitzgibbon (Morrissey 59).
St. Caimin’s: R McCauley; S O’Leary, D Ryan, B Carey; C O’Brien, N O’Connor, S Kelleher; F Melody, K McCafferty; S Liddy, A Mulready, D Collins; C Deasy, A Cunningham, S Lynch. Subs: S Gleeson (Collins 45).
Referee: M Mann (Ballybrown).
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