End of Ennis road in Harty Cup, but Christians leave room for improvement
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The imperfections in this Christians performance we’ll save for further down. It would be unfair to start with criticism, not when they are foot perfect where it really counts.
Two outings, two victories. Two 10-point winning margins. No goal conceded across two hours-plus of hurling. Knockout involvement secured with a round of group action still to run.
That’s a report card each of the CBC hurlers would be happy to see sent out in the post to their parents.
Whatever about their shooting and forward economy, there’s no arguing with the broader picture. Christians could not have hoped for a better start to this Harty campaign.
Ahead of their final Group A outing against second-placed John the Baptist Community School, all that concerns the Sidney Hill students is whether they’ll go straight to the last-eight or must they negotiate a pre-Christmas preliminary quarter-final. It’s as pressure-lite a situation as one could hope to find themselves in on the final day of group action.
Now, for a spot of well-earned criticism to ensure no one is getting ahead of themselves. At Ballyagran yesterday, they were comfortable and they were wasteful. They were so comfortable that they could afford to be as wasteful as they were.
By the 13th minute, Christians had registered seven wides, had twice hit the post, and also had a James Murray goal shot superbly saved by Rice College ‘keeper Daniel Meehan. Murray departed injured shortly after, joining fellow inside forward Conor McCarthy on the sideline as an early casualty.
And when Darren Moroney and Pádraic O’Donovan sniped three-in-a-row for Conor Cleary’s Rice College, the Ennis students somehow found themselves level at 0-4 apiece on 20 minutes.
Clearly annoyed with their failure to make their notable superiority count, Christians rattled off four-in-a-row through Eoghan O’Shea (one free and one from play), Michael Quill, and sub Cillian Murray to command an 0-8 to 0-5 interval advantage. It should, of course, have been so much greater. Nine first-half wides, two further short, and the earlier mentioned off-the-post and saved green flag efforts spoke of significant waste.
Pádraic O’Donovan brought the Ennis students within two, 0-10 to 0-8, seven minutes into the second period. You certainly couldn’t fault O’Donovan or Rice College for how they hung on in a fixture they had no right to hang on in. You certainly couldn’t fault O’Donovan for his effort full stop. He accounted for all bar one white flag of his team’s dozen.
Eventually Christians got the radar functioning and that quickly became that. From there to the finish, they outgunned their opponents 1-9 to 0-4.
Michael Brosnan fired in the goal on 40 minutes. The Glen Rovers half-forward was immense. He tallied 1-5 in total. Each one from play. Eoghan O’Shea swelled his tally to 0-9, four of those from play. Sub Cillian Murray will contend for a starting spot against Hospital after finishing with three from play. Half-back Andy Hourigan also got in on the second-half scoring spree.
This second group defeat means the end of the road for Rice College as far as progression is concerned. For Christians, their gaze is fixed firmly upwards.
E O’Shea (0-9, 0-5 frees); M Brosnan (1-5); C Murray (0-3); A Hourigan, M Quill (0-1 each).
P O’Donovan (0-11, 0-7 frees); D Moroney (0-1 each).
K Flood (Ballygarvan); J Huggins (Sarsfields), D Riordan (Kilworth), D Kingston (Mallow); R Buckley (Whitechurch), R Higgins (Sarsfields), A Hourigan (Mallow); J Hegarty (Ballinora), M Quill (Blackrock); M Brosnan (Glen Rovers), E O'Shea (Ballinhassig), B Mayer (Ballinora); J Trench (Ballinora), C McCarthy (St Finbarr's), J Murray (St Finbarr's).
C Murray (Bishopstown) for McCarthy (5 mins, inj); C Connolly (Glen Rovers) for J Murray (10, inj); S O’Driscoll (Aghada) for Mayer (temp, 32-35); S O’Driscoll (Aghada) for Trench (51); C Lawton (Midleton) for Hourigan (57, inj); F Kelly (Midleton) for Buckley (59).
D Meehan (Newmarket-on-Fergus); C Walsh (The Banner), L Clune (St Joseph's Doora Barefield), C O'Toole (The Banner); B O'Halloran (The Banner), R Mulcahy (Éire Óg), R McDermott (Éire Óg); N Doyle (Éire Óg), D Cahill (Clooney Quin); S Kelly (The Banner), P O'Donovan (St Joseph's Doora Barefield), C Henchy (The Banner); E Fitzpatrick (The Banner), D Tierney (Éire Óg), D Moroney (Éire Óg).
Referee: J Murphy (Limerick)