Looney levels for Mayfield

THE destination of this year’s Cork junior hurling crown remains unknown after Mayfield attacker Ian Looney held his nerve to rifle over a late free and ensure a draw in yesterday’s afternoon’s decider in Páirc Uí Rinn.

But by the closing stages on a terrible day both camps questioned the wisdom in staging the game in the first place.

“I think it would have been the proper thing to do to call it off,” outlined Mayfield selector Martin Cronin.

“I know the board are under pressure with fixtures. But whatever about trying to play football, it was atrocious trying to play hurling out there today. Both those Mayfield and Charleville players have been training hard since the start of the year and nobody deserved to lose a county final on a day like that.

Charleville manager TJ Crowley added: “Conditions were really poor for hurling with the ball sticking to the ground all day. But I think the ref did his job as well as he could and I’d have no qualms about the free at the finish. A draw was probably the right result.”

Scorers for Mayfield: T Lotty 1-1, D Buckley 1-0, N Kelly, I Looney 0-1f each.

Scorers for Charleville: M Gammell 0-4fs, D O’Flynn, J O’Brien 0-2 each, M Kavanagh 0-1.

MAYFIELD: R O’Keeffe; B Punch, E Barry, S O’Donovan; G Lehane, G Looney, D Lucey; S Kelly, C Brosnan; I Looney, N Kelly, M Barry; P Duggan, T Lotty, D Buckley.

Subs: B O’Leary for Lucey (inj) (23), K Punch for Buckley (46), P Hegarty for M Barry (57).

CHARLEVILLE: C Curtin; M O’Flynn, C Fitzgerald, A Dennehy; G Kelleher, C O’Flynn, B Dennehy; D O’Flynn, B McCarthy; D Murphy, D O’Sullivan, M Gammell; A Cagney, A O’Connor, J O’Brien.

Subs: M Kavanagh for O’Sullivan (23), J Casey for Cagney (46), F O’Callaghan for Murphy (55).

Referee: Cathal McAllister (Aghada).