Cork defender Colm Spillane turns scorer-in-chief for Castleyons
Ciarán McGann is enjoying his new role as manager of the Castlelyons Premier intermediate hurling team. And why wouldn’t the former Cork hurler following their 1-20 to 1-14 win over Blarney on Saturday leaving them top of their group.
In his first year in charge, having played in the top grade with his club up to recently (and due to line out with the junior B team on Sunday night), he expressed delight with the progress.
“The lads came to me at the start of the year to know would I put my hat in the ring. I thought about it and I am delighted to be involved. I have a good team around me.
“We treated the Blarney game as game two of three. We focused on ourselves. We would be very confident of our own ability and the message is to get out there and enjoy it.
“One key aspect is our work-rate this year and our strength in depth. We played 20 players against Blarney and that creates competition and hunger among the panel.”
County defender Colm Spillane has impacted since his move into attack, tallying 2-13 in the Blarney and Blackrock victories.
“We have strength in depth in defence. Colm Barry is a top full-back but we have plenty of leaders in defence so we looked at who could give us a bit of forward momentum.
“We know Colm can play anywhere. We chatted with him and he was delighted. He felt he would love freedom especially coming back from injury. He is training with a smile on his face. He played centre forward and full forward on Saturday.”
Inniscarra is their final group game at the end of this month. “Inniscarra will be fighting for their lives. We played them last year in championship and with 14 men, they beat us by two points. We have done a bit of work on that, more tactical work. This group is all to play for. Don’t write off Blackrock either. We played them in the first round but they had two or three missing. We only pulled away in the fourth quarter.”
Castlelyons led by seven at the break and, having shot 1-7 from play last Sunday at centre-forward, Spillane followed up with 1-5 here. His brothers Michael and Anthony chipped in with another six points between them, while they had a balance across the pitch that suggests they'll take some stopping.
Indeed, it took a late goal from Keith Costello to put a gloss on the scoreboard for Blarney.
The first score arrived after just 25 seconds, from Blarney corner-forward Padraig Power. Yet that didn't set the tone. Castlelyons responded brilliantly with four unanswered points of their own from Anthony Spillane, Colm Spillane, Keith O’Leary, and Michael Spillane.
Blarney couldn't settle and Castlelyons led by five points towards the end of the first quarter, but before the water break, Blarney came alive with scores from Power and former Cork minor Shane Barrett.
Immediately after the stoppage, Castlelyons exploded back into action. A long ball forward found Colm Spillane and he struck a fantastic goal from distance. The East Cork outfit took charge from here until half-time, adding seven points in front. The second half was a much closer affair with both sides going for their scores, but Castlelyons were always comfortable
C Spillane (1-5), M Spillane (2f), K O’Leary (1f, (0-4 each), A Spillane (0-2), N O’Leary, C O’Neill, A Fenton, L Ducey, J Kearney (0-1 each).
P Power and M Coleman (3f) (0-4 each), S Barrett (0-3), K Costello (1-0), D Hanlon (0-2), P Crowley (0-1).
J Barry; J O’Leary, C Barry, T Carroll; L Sexton, N O’Leary, C O’Neill; E Maye, K O’Leary; A Fenton, C Spillane, B Murphy; D Morrison, A Spillane (c), M Spillane.
L Ducey for A Fenton (16), J Kearney for D Morrison (37), R O’Regan for M Spillane (52), B Carroll for A Spillane (56), C O’Leary for R O’Regan (59).
P Hallissey; S Crowley, O Hegarty, D Walsh; B Ahern, P Philpot (c), A McEvoy; J Jordan, M Coleman; D Hanlon, P Crowley, C Murphy; K Costello, S Barrett, P Power.
R Murphy for P Crowley (h-t), B O’Connell for C Murphy (35).
Alan O’Connor (Ballygarvin)
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