ALL-IRELAND glory for the Mitchelstown CBS hurlers after a masterful performance against St Mary’s at Abbotstown on Saturday.
The winners, with former Cork All-Star goalkeeper Anthony Nash involved in their management team, dominated from the start and hit all bar three of their 3-17 haul from play.
They were 2-12 to 0-2 up at half-time, Shane Looney and Matthew Fitzgibbon with the goals, with Conor Walsh raising the third green flag in the second half. Defensively they were excellent too, holding their opponents to just 0-3 from play.
Darragh O’Brien scored in the first minute before Luke Keating and Ben Carey combined for Keating to split the posts.
Good play by Shane Looney, Charlie English, Jack McNamara and Cathal English led to an Oisin Ryan score while Cathal English found Evan Hickey who placed Ben Carey for a point.
The impressive half-back line and midfield ensured a plentiful supply to an attack that threatened throughout.
Cathal English and O’Brien combined before Carey followed with a great point and it was clear there was only going to be one winner. In the 14th minute, James Sargent opened St Mary’s account but the response was Fitzgibbon’s goal.
Further pressure saw Darragh O’Brien solo through with Keating converting after he was fouled. Carey opened up a 10-point lead before Ryan scored again.
Shane Looney struck a great point and Evan Hickey placed Darragh O’Brien for a fine score in the 25th minute.
Keating hit another free before Sargent landed his second for St Mary’s.
It was soon followed by the second goal, as Keating set up Looney; CBS led at the break 2-12 to 0-2
On the restart, Cathal Walsh struck a great point while Jamie Fogarty, Diarmuid O’Brien and Adam Barry made some good clearances as St Mary’s improved up front.
Charlie English and Hickey made it 2-15 to 0-4 and the third goal arrived in the 49th minute when Shane Looney soloed through and placed Conor Walsh. At that stage, it was long over as a contest, not that Mitchelstown minded.
S Looney, Conor Walsh 1-1 each, L Keating 0-4 (0-3 f), M Fitzgibbon 1-0 B Carey, Darragh O’Brien 0-3 each, O Ryan 0-2, Charlie English, Cathal Walsh , E Hickey 0-1 each.
J Sargent 0-5 f, C Johnston, M Walls, L McDonnell 0-1 each.
E Geary (Ballygiblin); Diarmuid O’Brien (Glanworth), J Fogarty (do), A Barry (Ballygiblin); Cathal Walsh (do), Cathal English (Fr Sheehy’s), J McNamara (Kildorrery); Charlie English (Skeheenarinky), Darragh O’Brien (Glanworth); B Carey (Ballylooby Castlegrace), S Looney (Shanballymore), E Hickey (Skeheenarinky); M Fitzgibbon (Kildorrery), L Keating (do), O Ryan (Fr Sheehy’s).
K Cotter (Ballygiblin) for O Ryan, Conor Walsh (do) for M Fitzgibbon, C Ryan (Garryspillane) for J McNamara, C Coughlan (Kildorrery) for E Hickey, C O’Brien (Fr Sheehy’s) for A Barry (inj) .
P Kelly; L Gribben, O Mulligan, J McGurk; N O’Donnell, J Sargent, R McCallion; M Walls, C Curley; B McClarnon, P Birt, J Convery; L McDonnell, C Johnston, AJ McCann.
T McBrien for B McClarnon, R O’Neill for M Walls, S Devlin for L McDonnell, B Cassidy, AJ McCann.
S Maher (Offaly).
