Senior Hurling Championship

Second Round Cork Senior Hurling Championship.

Played at Carrigtwohill, Saturday 2nd June 2007.

Blackrock 0 - 15 St Catherine's 2 - 10

On a dreary miserable night in Carrigtwohill, it was another heartbreaking one point defeat for the Rockies in a vital game that again should have been won. Blackrock were three points ahead with just 6 minutes of normal time left, yet left with nothing but the prospect of relegation play offs.

The failure to win crucial balls in the forward lines in the final minutes and the sheer determination of the East Cork side cost Blackrock as first St.Catherine's sub Sean Barry raced in to score an equalizing goal, while a "65" was converted by Mike Fitzgerald in the final minute of normal time to give the east Cork side a one point win.

Double relegation playoffs

Similar to the first round game with Sars, Blackrock had several chances to equalize or even win the game outright in added time but luck seems to have deserted Church Road in 2007. So the Rockies bow out of the Championship for 2007 and still face the dreadful relegation matches along with the Intermediate team, which was recently defeated by Kilbrittain in the Championship.

Early in the game David Cashman had fired over two fine points from midfield in the opening minutes, while Catherine's were dependent on frees for their first 3 points. Then Shane Kearney fired in an opportunist goal from a ball which the Rockies defense failed to cover at the corner of the square.

Good hurling from the Rockies

However the Rockies playing some fine hurling responded with some excellent points from Colin O'Leary, Liam Meaney, Alan Browne, David Cashman and Brian O'Keeffe (two). In the 25th minute Alan Browne who was winning a lot of ball was clean through on goal but opted to pass the ball to a better placed colleague and the chance disappeared.

The score at the interval was Blackrock 0 - 9 St Catherine's 1 - 5.

By the 45th minute it was all square at 0 - 11 to 1 - 8 following a free from Adrian Coughlan and a fine point from a solo effort by Fergal Ryan. Richard O'Connell, Cal Aherne and Shane Cotter had added points for Catherines. There were hard fought exchanges between both sides however the Rockies were well on top and scored four points, a real beauty from Colin O'Leary from outfield, while Alan Browne and Adrian Coughlan with two, had the Rockies in the driving seat.

The Blackrock defense was doing well at this stage and cleared ball after ball with John Browne and Wayne Sherlock in great form, while Catherine's were held scoreless for 10 minutes. However the insurance point would not come and eventually St. Catherine's got through for the magic goal to equalize the game.

With light fading, the "65" proved to be the final score and was enough to send a delighted St. Catherine's through. The failure to close out the game in the final minutes had once more proved to be the Rockies downfall.

Frank Barry, Wayne Sherlock, John Browne, Richard Curtin, Chris Murphy, Joe Young, Fergal Ryan, Adrian Coughlan,( 0 -4 , 3f)David Cashman,(0 -3)Colin O'Leary,(0 -2 ) Derek Gosnell, Liam Meaney,(0 -1) Brian O'Keeffe,(0 -2) Alan Browne,(0 -2) Gearoid Cleary. Subs Kevin Murphy, Mark Drummond.