Cardiac kids Carrigtwohill eager for final frenzy
STILL STANDING: Carrigtwohill's Liam O'Sullivan gets his pass away past Killeagh's Ben Walsh during their SHL clash in June. Pic: David Keane.
Confounding expectations. Then and now.
The similarities are impossible to ignore. The surprise at their making the final is uncanny. This is no convenient drawing of parallels.
Carrigtwohill’s involvement in Sunday’s Cork Senior A showpiece against Erin's Own marks the club’s first county final appearance since the fairytale victory in the 2011 little All-Ireland.
Promoted from Premier Intermediate in 2007, they wound up in the relegation final the following two seasons. The annual ambition became that of hanging on. At the start line of the 2011 campaign, they were 100/1 outsiders to travel the distance. Concluding Sunday success was unthinkable and unrealistic.
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Coached by current Waterford U20 boss James O’Connor, the now universally lauded Caroline Currid also worked with the group. The opening day assignment against Ballinhassig saw them fail to score for the entirety of the second half and almost squander an 11-point interval advantage. Stumbling then slaying. Cloyne and Midleton were felled in the quarters and semis.
In the most novel final pairing that was themselves and Cork IT, Seanie O’Farrell came off the bench and popped a 59th-minute winner for a first Carrigtwohill county in 93 years.
Given they were semi-finalists in 2023 and again last year, it could be argued that Carrigtwohill have confounded zero expectations in going at least one step further this year. Natural progression, the argument might continue.
It would be a convenient and inaccurate argument.
On the eve of championship, marquee forward Seán Walsh was lost to cruciate woe. He was responsible for 34% of their 2025 championship total. His 5-78 contribution in this year’s league went unmatched by any other Division 1 sharpshooter. A further loss, albeit temporary, was that of midfielder Justin Oke.
Their championship opener was lost to Inniscarra. In the 59th minute of their group closer, Carrigtwohill trailed Ballinhassig and teetered on the brink of elimination.
They required a 63rd minute goal from half-back Daniel Murnane to send their quarter-final against Na Piarsaigh to extra-time. They came from three behind at the end of extra-time to force penalties.
The same as 2011, they have time and again confounded expectations.
Current full-forward Liam O’Sullivan was employed at midfield and half-forward 15 years ago. Current corner-back Pat O’Sullivan wore full-back garb back then. Tomás Hogan, used regularly off the bench on the run to Sunday, was a key scoring forward. Pádraic Hogan was used off the bench both then and now. Quarter-final penalty shootout hero Shane Devlin was back-up custodian in 2011.
“It is brilliant to be back in a county final,” begins the aforementioned Liam O’Sullivan, now 36 and coming towards the end of campaign No.19 in blue and yellow.
“When we got there in 2011, I probably didn’t appreciate how difficult it is to get to those occasions because we’d been in a couple of premier intermediate finals in 2006 and '07. You always think there’ll be more opportunities, but the years go by fairly quickly, and it has taken us 15 years to get back to a place where we are able to put the flags and bunting up in the village again.
“In 2011, we were in a scenario whereby our target at the start of the year wasn’t to get anywhere near a final because we had relegation finals in 2008 and '09, and then had lost a third-round game to Bride Rovers in 2010.
“We were underdogs for almost every game we played that year. How we worked together as a team throughout the run was probably the highlight, and from that perspective, we’ve had to do something similar this year without the scoring that Seán brought in the League and last few championships.
“It has been a collective effort to replace the scoring Seán would usually bring, and so many others have stepped up to replace what he was supplying.”
Although top flight semi-finalists in 2019, there had been general slippage in the years after the 2011 fairytale. Relegation to the second tier arrived in 2021.
Comparing the starting team from the relegation defeat to Charleville five years ago and the recent semi-final line-up shows only seven survivors. O’Sullivan is the sole survivor in an attack now populated and powered by young fellas. Patrick Walsh and Daniel Nolan, who struck 0-6 and 0-3 from play respectively against Blarney, are still U20, as is fellow starting forward Matthew Barrett.
“From a backs perspective, Pat O’Sullivan would be brilliant at guiding the younger lads. The lads in the forwards, they didn’t need much guidance. They were already very capable of going to that level,” Liam continued.
“I am just delighted that some of our lads have the opportunity to play in a county final because they’ve put in such a ferocious effort over the last number of years.”
His final hope is that they get a final whistle feeling the same as he did on October 2, 2011.
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