'Haven hurdle cleared, a new Dr Crokes eager to continue voyage of discovery

They won’t afford themselves a hearty welcome just yet but with the reigning Munster champions now out of their way, and other All-Ireland contenders falling over the weekend, there could be a bit of winter training there yet for Pat O’Shea and co.

Castlehaven aren’t your garden variety Cork champions. They are durable and smart and sprinkled with inter-county steel. There are mitigating circumstances to consider in this end to their campaign – they started minus Damien Cahalane and Rory Maguire and with ten minutes left, they lost Brian Hurley to a straight red card. They are tough rebounds, though they won’t want to point to excuses. 

And Mark Collins didn’t. “We were beaten by the better team today, Crokes are good,” he said.

There were other small but important elements favouring Crokes. Brian Hurley would fancy his chances against any club defender in Munster on his day. The one player who can match him, indeed probably better him, for pace is Gavin White of Dr Crokes. Hence the Haven forward leader never really had the influence on proceedings that Castlehaven demanded. When he got on possession, Jack Cahalane looked the liveliest visiting attacker.

Much like the game itself, Castlehaven never really fired. They only led for a sum total of three minutes at Lewis Road and though Dr Crokes were never free-wheeling themselves, there were little old Crokes cameos that indicated they will be a match for anyone in Munster’s last four and beyond.

The ingredients for a sublime afternoon’s entertainment were all present - polo-shirt weather, a seductive-looking Lewis Road surface and a packed stand of corn-beef sandwiches, west Cork day trippers and the local cognoscenti. But it was more taut than thrilling. The thing about Crokes, though, is they don’t have to dominate to win. The county final victory over Dingle franked that old truism, and they continue to be better than most at the moments.

Seconds after the restart, the electric Gavin White made his first and the game’s critical incursion into enemy territory, and scorched a path through to find Cian McMahon. The corner forward might have netted but he was fouled and Tony Brosnan duly dispatched the game’s opening goal. A 0-6 to 0-5 half time lead was now a four-point gap, and by the 38th minute it was 1-8 to 0-5. 

In truth, Tony Brosnan was only getting going at that stage, Micheal Burns being the go-to attacker in the first period. However Brosnan would finish with 1-7 in total – Brian Hurley was the Haven’s top scorer with three points. Of course he only saw 50 minutes of action and his dismissal for a high challenge on Cian McMahon came with the Haven in the ascendancy – two points on the bounce from corner back Thomas O’Mahony and Hurley himself had them 1-8 to 0-7 in arrears in the 43rd minute.

Crokes made their move, first with Kieran O’Leary, then Daithi Casey, a pair of thirty-somethings that can smell a burning cake of bread in the oven better than most. O’Leary is having quite the campaign, and he took all of 30 seconds to ghost free and add an important Crokes point. With Hurley gone, and Conor O’Driscoll flashing an effort for a goal wide, the impressive and loud visiting support began to sense the end. But as Mark Collins said afterwards, this side has always died with their boots on. They won an admittedly dubious looking penalty in the 60th minute (though they were short-changed on a few other decisions) and Damien Cahalane, introduced in the 40th minute, smashed the net with his strike. Suddenly a one-score game, 1-11 to 1-8, but as Crokes mentor Denis Coleman indicated afterwards, their response was the most impressive part of the day – four points without reply to close this one out without undue stress.

“We did well also on some of the key match-ups," Coleman added, “like Gavin on Brian Hurley. Brian is such a big player for them, but Gavin was on top in that contest and we had the added bonus of what he does going forward. But what was most impressive element was the way our guys took control again at the end, kicking four points.” 

With the likes of Evan Looney, Charlie Keating, and Maidhcí Lynch joining the more established elements of the Crokes package, no-one, not even in the club, is sure where this season will all end. Pat O’Shea and his group have annexed the Kerry SFC title, the Club SFC and Division 1 of the County League. This was their 22nd game of the campaign, and there will be at least a 23rd. 

“Plus the East Kerry Board have kindly fixed our O’Donoghue Cup semi-final (East Kerry SFC) for next weekend, but all season it’s been about getting as many players on the pitch as we can.

“The players don’t know how far they can go. That’s the beauty of this, there was no sit down at the start of the year where we said let’s win the county or the All-Ireland club championship. I know it’s a cliché but there been a bit of a voyage of discovery, then as the year went on we got the like of David Shaw and Micheal Burns back. It’s hard to know how far we are going to go.” 

Scorers for Dr Crokes: 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).

Scorers for Castlehaven: 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).

DR CROKES: 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.

Subs: K O’Leary for Keating (43), J Payne for T Doyle (50), D Casey for McMahon (inj, 50), D Naughton for Potts (56).

CASTLEHAVEN: 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.

Subs: 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).

Referee: S Lonergan (Tipperary).