Normal ‘Service’ Resumed As Junior Hurlers Back To Winning Ways
06 Sep 2020

A much more cohesive and determined second-half display saw Castleknock with two points to spare at the end of this Junior ‘B’ Hurling Cup Round 1 match against Civil Service in Somerton this morning (Sept.6).

Castleknock struggled in the first quarter to find any kind of rhythm as the greater cuteness of the visitors pushed them into a 1-5 0-3 lead. Luke Gubbins who was a thorn in the side of the Civil service defence throughout got Castleknock’s opening point followed by further scores from the impressive Ronan McCann and the pacey Mick McCloskey.

Castleknock settled much more after the Water-Break winning two frees which were fired over by Andy Lonergan and the improvement continued when in the three minutes before the interval centre-half-back Sean Ryan hit a huge point from distance, Andy Lonergan landed a 65’ and Ronan McCann finished the best move of the half, involving Sean Ryan and Andy Lonergan, with a fine point.

There was a sense of Déjà vu about the opening minutes of the second-half when after 30 seconds Luke Gubbins pointed and then after 90 seconds exactly as in the first-half Civil Service replied with a pointed free. Thankfully that’s were the similarities ended because while Civil Service goaled 5 minutes into the first-half it was Luke Gubbins who, put through by an Aaron O’Gara’s pass, got the all-important goal, this time for Castleknock, 5 minutes into the second-half.

The next 10 minutes brought Castleknock’s best spell of the match as the on fire Luke Gubbins added two points to his goal, followed by a sizzling point just over the crossbar from Aaron O’Gara, an excellent point from play from substitute Tomás O’Ceallaigh and another pointed free from Andy Lonergan to give Castleknock a five point lead 1-9 1-14 with 15 minutes left.

But Civil Service weren’t prepared to give up and in the final nervous minutes it took some cool heads in defence and another two points from Andy Lonergan, a long distance score from the No.11, his first from play, and then an assured finish from Ronan McCann which was waved wide before the referee over-ruled that decision and deservedly gave Castleknock the score.

It took Castleknock (for whom Luke McCann unusually took over in goals) a while to shake off their Championship hangover but when they did the outcome was a deserved win.

Castleknock: Luke McCann; David McInerney; Ed Forrest; Declan Tobin; Jack Purcell; Sean Ryan (0-1); Ben O’Neill; Aaron O’Gara (0-1); Oisin Murphy O’Kane; Ronan McCann (0-3); Andy Lonergan (0-5); Mick McCloskey (0-1); Aaron Cunningham; Joe Murray; Luke Gubbins (1—4); Subs: Tomás O’Ceallaigh (0-1); Brian Carter; Shane Coffey.

Manager: Kevin McCambridge.
Report: Kevin Mallon