White’s Cross played their get-out-of-jail-free card in this county junior hurling championship match played before big crowd in Blarney on Friday night last. Following impressive performances against Gabriel Rangers, Lough Rovers and Belgooly in previous rounds and a comprehensive league victory over Rathpeacon, White’s Cross entered this game in good form and confident that they would reach the county final for the second year in a row. The game, as might be expected between local rivals in a high-stakes game, was a tense affair throughout. This was aptly demonstrated by the fact that it took ten minutes for the games opening score to arrive; this a fine point from the wing by Rathpeacon’s lively midfielder Gavin Duggan. This put Rathpeacon into the lead, a lead they held until injury time in the second half. Further points by Duggan, Martin O’Sullivan and John Walsh for Rathpeacon were mostly matched on the other sides by a string of wides. White’s Cross saw plenty of the ball in the first half but unlike recent games, the end product seemed to desert them time and again. Indeed, their reward for the first thirty minutes was a solitary Conor Buckley free to their opponents six points.
The first 20 minutes of the second half gave us more of the same. White’s Cross needed a good start to the second half but, while Conor Buckley opened the scoring with another free, Rathpeacon were able to match them score for score. With ten minutes of a poor, yet gripping, contest, White’s Cross had not reduced their five point deficit and trailed 0-10 to 0-05. At this stage, the outlook was not bright. However, some astute changes on the line which saw Conor Buckley move to full forward and the injection of young fresh legs in the form of Cormac O’Flynn, Seamus Quinlan and Fiachra O’Connell. O’Flynn in particular made an immediate impact in the half forward line and scored an inspirational point to lift his side. Conor Buckley, who was typically outstanding throughout, followed suit with another fine point from play and suddenly there was a bit of belief in the team and the hurling quality improved. Another Conor Buckley point saw the gap reduced to two points with time running out. It looked like the fightback was about to fall short, however, up stepped Eoin Murnane and Conor Buckley, again, to rescue the situation with two great points under pressure to draw White’s Cross level for the first time in the match. From there, both sides had chances to win the game before the referee blew the final whistle. Coach Seamus Kennefick will take the draw knowing the county dream could easily have perished on this evening. Much improvement and return to the form shown in other games will be necessary the next day.
Team: Shane Cahill, Derek O’Connor, John O’Connell, Pádraig Murnane, Robert McElhinney, Murt Kelleher, James Cooney, Donncha Murnane , Richie Sherlock, Ruairí Murnane, Eoin Murnane (0-01), Conor Buckley (0-08 – 0-05 frees), Sean Murnane, Edwin Buckley, Seán Twomey.. Subs: Cormac O’Flynn (0-01) for Edwin Buckley, Seamus Quinlan for Sean Twomey, Fiachra O’Connell