Dr Crokes get through gut check against 14-man Castlehaven with injury time surge
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AS the old fisherman said, this one had the ingredients for a perfect platter but finished in a bit of a damp squid.
For that, hat-tip to Dr Crokes, who survived a testing gut check in the closing stages after Damien Cahalane blasted a Castlehaven penalty to the roof of the net. Five minutes of added time left, and suddenly a Munster Club SFC quarter-final Crokes seemed to have suffocated was alive again. 1-11 to 1-8, a one-score game.
The raucous west Cork contingent smelt a tale for the grandchildren but Crokes, callow as these county champions are, closed the deal with four points from play in injury time.
What took the Haven’s final quarter surge at the knees, though, was the straight red card for their talisman Brian Hurley in the 50th minute for a high challenge on Cian McMahon. Whether the Cork and reigning Munster champions had the potency to overturn a six-point gap heading into the last fifteen minutes is a moot point.
If it all ended without the drama the first half advertised that was no fault of the Killarney side, who were the marginally better side throughout. They led 0-6 to 0-5 at the break but changed the dynamic of the tie in the opening minutes of the second period.
All it took was the jet-heeled Gavin White to time perfectly one incursion into the Castlehaven final third and a precise pass to Cian McMahon. The corner forward should have goaled but he was hauled down and Tony Brosnan dispatched the penalty with relish. Brosnan and McMahon added points before the Haven shook off their stupor.
Thomas O’Mahony and Brian Hurley pointed within a minute but crucially Crokes then sent for their wise owls – Kieran O’Leary and Daithi Casey, both now 34. O’Leary pointed within thirty seconds and Castlehaven now needed to go for broke.
Conor O’Driscoll, the substitute, flashed a shot wide and when Jack Cahalane set up his brother for another goal chance, Charlie Keating snuffed out the threat impressively.
Brosnan and Maidchi Lynch added a pair of points to ease Crokes 1-11 to 0-7 in front before the Haven’s late, indeed too late, surge.
T Brosnan (1-7, 1-0 pen, 3f), K O’Leary, M Burns (0-2 each), M Potts, C Keating, C McMahon, M Lynch (0-1 each)
B Hurley (0-3, 2 frees), D Cahalane (1-0, pen), C Maguire , A Whelton, J O’Neill, T O;Mahony, C Cahalane (0-1 each)
S Murphy; E Looney, F Fitzgerald, M Lynch; C Keating, G White, B Looney; M O’Shea, M Potts; M Burns, G O’Shea, T Doyle; T Brosnan, D Shaw, C McMahon.
K O’Leary for Keating (43), J Payne for T Doyle (50), D Casey for McMahon (inj, 50), D Naughton for Potts (56).
Darragh Cahalane; J O’Regan, J Walsh, T O’Mahony; J O’Neill, C Cahalane, M Collins; A Whelton, R Minihane; J O’Driscoll, B Hurley, S Browne; C Maguire, J Cahalane, M Hurley.
D Cahalane for O’Neill (40), Conor O’Driscoll for Browne (47), M Maguire for Minihane, R Walsh for J O’Driscoll (53), C O’Sullivan for Whelton (55).
S Lonergan (Tipperary)