Carrigtwohill edge Na Piarsaigh on penalties after Cork SAHC quarter-final epic

Carrigtwohill battled back in normal time and extra time before winning 3-2 on penalties

Na Piarsaigh’s Padriag Guest bursts past the Carrigtwohill defence, Picture by Noel Sweeney

Cork SAHC quarter-final: Carrigtwohill 2-24 Na Piarsaigh 3-21 (aet, Carrigtwohill won 3-2 on penalties)

Carrigtwohill earned their luck as they edged Na Piarsaigh on penalties in Friday night’s Co-op SuperStores SAHC quarter-final at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Having battled back in normal time and extra time, Carrig took an early 2-0 lead in the penalty shootout as goalkeeper Shane Devlin scored one and saved one, but Na Piarsaigh were level after Eoin Sheehan – who replaced injured goalkeeper Luke Donovan – made a superb save.

However, Justin Oke, who was unable to start for Carrig but was hugely influential after coming on, made it 3-2, Pádraig Guest was unable to find the target for Piarsaigh.

A semi-final with Blarney will represent a test for Carrigtwohill, but they will draw on reserves of character shown here.

In extra time, a fine goal from sub Gunning – coming not long after they had falled behind for the first time all night – had looked to be decisive, but Carrigtwohill battled back well, with points from influential sub Justin Oke, James Mulcahy and a huge free from his own 45 by Matthew Barrett resulting in the shootout.

That response mirrored what they had done earlier. Down by four at half-time, Carrigtwohill had introduced Oke, who was not fit enough to start, and Tomás Hogan and the deficit was slightly reduced as they had the better of the early exchanges and Na Piarsaigh continued to be guilty of wasting scoreable chances.

After another of those wides, Carrig goalkeeper Shane Devlin found Jay Horgan, who pointed to leave it 1-11 to 0-11, but from the Na Piarsaigh puckout, Luke Donovan went long and Moynihan did brilliantly to use his strength to claim possession and then unleash a piledriver to the net for his second goal and a a six-point advantage.

In their last group game, Carrigtwohill had enjoyed a good lead against Ballinhassig with 20 minutes to go only to finish level; here, they set about making inroads into a similar deficit. Barrett provided inspiration with a jinking run from deep to give himself sight of goal – while his shot was straight at Donovan, sub Daniel Nolan was able to divert the loose ball home, Eddie Gunning unlucky not to keep the shot out.

The margin was down to two with Barrett’s fourth point of the evening but Na Piarsaigh kept their calm and captain Pádraig Guest, Daire Connery and Ross O’Sullivan (free) pushed them five clear with 12 left.

Now it was Carrig’s turn to fall in the marksmanship stakes and they had gone 12 minutes without a score before Patrick Walsh pointed – as is the way, that was followed by scores from Oke and Cian O’Riordan.

Na Piarsaigh replacement Owen Galvin made it a three-point game in injury time but that was wiped out at the death as Devlin’s free from deep led to a scramble, with Murnane bundling the ball to the net to force the additional period.

In the first half of normal time, the city side had settled better, with Daniel Scanlon operating as a third midfielder while Cian Buckley was strong in defence as they moved 0-7 to 0-3 ahead, albeit without full shooting efficiency.

That cost them as Carrig found some rhythm and it was 0-8 each as half-time approached before Guest’s industry led to a chance for Moynihan, who got his shot away as goalkeeper Shane Devlin and centre-back Seán de Búrca sought to make saving blocks.

Midfielder Cian Horgan battled hard to get a point to put them four ahead as they retired at half-time – but plenty more drama was to come.

Scorers for Carrigtwohill: J Mulcahy (0-4f), M Barrett (0-3f) 0-5 each, P Walsh 0-4, J Oke 0-3, D Murnane 1-1, D Nolan 1-0, C O’Riordan, J Horgan 0-2 each, P Hogan, T Hogan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Na Piarsaigh: K Moynihan 2-0, R O’Sullivan 0-5 (0-3f), D Connery (0-2f) P Guest (0-1f) 0-4 each, D Gunning 1-0, L Sheehan, O Galvin 0-2 each, P Murphy, D Scanlon, P O’Rourke, C Hogan 0-1 each.

CARRIGTWOHILL: S Devlin; B Twomey, S de Búrca, P O’Sullivan; D Murnane, A Walsh Barry, P Hogan; S Brennan, J Horgan; P Walsh, M Barrett, C O’Riordan; S Rohan, L O’Sullivan, J Mulcahy.

Subs: D Nolan for O’Sullivan (17, injured), T Hogan for Rohan, J Oke for P Horgan (both half-time), P Hogan for Murnane, M O’Connor for Walsh (both 79).

NA PIARSAIGH: L Donovan; A Higgins, E Gunning, C Buckley; C Meaney, G Healy, K Buckley; D Connery, C Hogan; L Sheehan, P O’Rourke, P Guest; D Scanlon, K Moynihan, R O’Sullivan.

Subs: P Murphy for Hogan (53), O Galvin for O’Sullivan (57), C Hanifin for Moynihan (60+3), D Gunning for Sheehan (64), K Sheehan for Higgins, Moynihan for O’Rourke (both 74).

Referee: S Stokes (Tullylease).