East Cork GAA

Declan BarronMatch Report

Lisgoold claim First U21 Hurling title with victory over Cobh

Lisgoold 1-15 Cobh 1-10

This “Jones Engineering” East Cork U21 C hurling final was played at the Lisgoold venue on Sunday afternoon, where the home side had a pillar to post victory, in a most entertaining game which saw Lisgoold claim an U21 title for the very first time in their history.

Underfoot conditions were very heavy as referee Mary Byrne got proceedings underway, with the home side going into an early lead as John Cronin got them off the mark with a point. Robert Smart who was to be prominent throughout the opening half added another before the impressive Gavin Fitzgerald got the opening point for Cobh. In 12 a side there is plenty of room to manoeuvre, and Lisgoold were making good use of space with Alan Connery, Jamie woods and Ronan Stack, all running freely as Lisgoold edged into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead after the first quarter. Indeed the difference between the sides was illustrated shortly afterwards with Ciáran Cronin having to bring off a superb save to deny Liam O’Connor a goal at one end and a minute later Lisgoold, through Robert Smart had the ball in the Cobh net to move them further ahead. Cobh continued to battle hard and while Gavin Fitzgerald was their main threat a fine point from David McCarthy saw them trail by 1-9 to 0-5 at the interval.

On the resumption some positional switches helped Cobh enormously and while Michael Cronin increased the Lisgoold lead with a good point, Cobh continued to improve with Fitzgerald adding a brace of points. Lisgoold were winning a deal of possession but poor shooting left them down as they failed to pull clear and at the three quarter stage they led by 1-13 to 0-8. Cobh was then thrown a lifeline as sub Alan Busteed found the net and suddenly Cobh had a new purpose about them. Walden Drake, Damien Tallon, Tomas McGrath and Ben O’Connell all came thundering into the action as Gavin Fitzgerald closed the gap to just four points. It was as close as they were to come however as good points from Jamie Woods and Robert Smart ensured that the title would go to Lisgoold.

A late dust up not in keeping with a fine game saw referee Mary Byrne deal swiftly with the event as Gavin Fitzgerald from Cobh was sent off while Robert Smart of Lisgoold was booked in an otherwise clean game well controlled by referee Mary Byrne who allowed advantage to accrue where possible and who assisted both sides in letting the play flow. Alan Busteed got the final point for a Cobh side that contributed enormously and were in not for the vigilance of Ciáran Cronin in the Lisgoold goal, his side might not have won. As the East Cork Board Officers were on official duty in Killarney the cup was presented to winning Lisgoold captain Ciáran Cronin, by John Joe Regan.

Lisgoold: R Smart 1-8, J Cronin 0-4, A Connery, J Woods and M Cronin 0-1 each

Cobh: G Fitzgerald 0-6, A Busteed 1-1, D McCarthy 0-3

Lisgoold: C Cronin, K Kingston, K Flynn, P Leahy, A Connery, R Stack, C Walsh, J Woods, J Cronin, R Smart, T McCarthy and M Cronin.

Cobh: C McDowell, B O’Connell, K Doody, C Farrell, W Drake, D Tallon, L McDermott, A McCarthy, T McGrath, G Fitzgerald, D McCarthy and L O’Connor. Sub A Busteed

Referee: Mary Byrne, Fr O’Neill’s.