Cobh v Dungourney June 27th 2015

1^st Round East Cork Junior A Hurling Championship

Cobh 3-11 Dungourney 2-16

The weather forecasters got this one spot on as the wind and rain arrived right on cue to meet both Cobh and Dungourney as they squared off in the opening round of the East Cork Junior A Hurling Championship.

Cobh opened the scoring and both sides exchanged points to give Cobh a 2 to 1 point lead after 5 minutes. Cobh were then dealt a blow when Liam Greaney went down injured and was forced off with what later would turn out to be a broken bone in his leg. Liam will be sorely missed for the remainder of his spell on the treatment table.  Both sides found it difficult to put points on the board with the weather conditions and a number of wides were exchanged in the opening period. Aidan O Rourke scored a great point for Cobh while Seamus Ryan displayed some great defending at the back to keep Cobh’s slender one point advantage in tact half way through the first half. Both sides then exchanged points, Cobh’s coming from a long range Lee Murphy free. The net was then rattled for the first time in this opening round tie as Cobh engineered a great team goal. Kieran Histon won a great ball in defence who found Lee Murphy. Lee delivered a great ball to Jer Meaney in the full forward line who managed to break the ball to the alert Adam Mac. Adam then let fly to rattle the back of the Dungourney net to the delight of the Cobh crew. Dungourney replied with another point before Cobh sent the ball back down to the danger zone. Jer Meaney partaking in a great one-two hand pass before he was taken down for a penalty. Cian Spriggs stepped up to try increase Cobh’s lead but unfortunately the conditions saw Cian miss hit his shot leaving Dungourney off the hook for the time being. Dungourney pulled back level either side of two wides from Cobh as the slippy conditions were taking their toll on both sets of players. Adam Mac and Jack Ronan added more points for Cobh while Dungourney also refused to lie down scoring points of their own to leave the half time score at Cobh 1-07, Dungourney 1-06. Both sides feeling they could go on and win it after the break. 

The momentum stayed with Cobh as the second half opened with a point from a placed ball, Cian Spriggs making no mistake this time. The next Cobh attack saw Cian round his defender with ease and continue to baffle the Dungourney defence before drilling a great shot into the back of the net. Cian certainly putting the missed penalty behind him now and Cobh looked to be bouncing. Spriggs pointed another free while Dungourney replied with a score of their own.  Spriggs would then delight the Cobh following again as he produced an almost carbon copy of his previous goal to raise the green flag for Cobh for a third time in this tie. Dungourney again replied with a point and Cobh replied with a point of their own from Darragh Kelleher who stuck a great score from wing forward. 

Cobh now had a 9 point lead and were looking good to close this one out.  However that was not to be the case. Dungourney were to begin a purple patch of their own and to the dismay of the Islanders, Cobh were never able to switch the momentum adding just one more point from Aidan O’Rourke and failing to score for the final 15 minutes of the game. Dungourney remained calm and notched a few scores but ultimately it was the goal in closing minutes of the game that would send Dungourney straight through to the third round and force Cobh through the back door route. Cobh tried hard in the finish to goal to bring the tie back in their favour but unfortunately it was not to be on the night. Cobh now face Youghal in Midleton again this Sunday the 5^th at  7pm in the second round. A tough task ahead but another chance nonetheless. The second round giving teams a chance to experience more championship paced hurling that can be brought into the next round of this highly competitive East Cork Championship.