Castlehaven 1-7 Duhallow 0-9:SHANE NOLAN emerged as an unlikely Castlehaven hero by snatching a dramatic winning goal three minutes from the end of regulation time to deny divisional side Duhallow in front of a crowd of just over 6,000 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday.
His father Jim, a Cork selector in recent years, is a ’Haven stalwart but the 22-year-old attacker, who is in his first season with the club, announced his arrival in the grandest manner.
Nolan hadn’t started a game throughout the campaign, but Castlehaven were in dire need of a boost from somewhere following the dismissal of outstanding wing-back Chris Hayes for a second yellow card after 43 minutes with the sides tied at 0-6 apiece.
A couple of minutes later manager James McCarthy turned to Nolan in the hope of providing some inspiration and it duly arrived, when he punched Mark Collins’s long, probing ball past static goalkeeper Kevin Murphy for the game’s decisive score.
Castlehaven, who were on a revenge mission after losing last year’s final to UCC, still had to negotiate four minutes of injury-time before savouring the fourth title and their first since 2003.
Duhallow applied plenty of pressure, but couldn’t prise open a tight-marking defence, which coughed up just one more point, when Cork star Donnacha O’Connor pointed in the closing minute. It proved too little too late to impact on the outcome.
Overall, it was a very disappointing game, spoiled by a heavy emphasis from both teams on funnelling too many players behind the ball, putting the forward in possession under intense pressure and resulting in little or no space in either danger zone.
Duhallow had first use of the wind, though could only go in at half-time level at 0-5 apiece, despite enjoying lots of possession. They appeared to lack the necessary wherewithal to unlock the massed ’Haven rearguard.
The sides were tied at 0-2 each after a cagey opening quarter before the men from the north-west division managed a couple of fine scores from Pádraig O’Leary and Niall Fleming only for their opponents to respond in kind.
Damien Cahalane, who did a fine policing job on O’Connor, kicked a 45 metre free and young Brian Hurley levelled three minutes before the break.
O’Connor edged Duhallow in front again with an impressive point from the right only for Collins to restore parity for a fourth time.
Although O’Connor and Collins exchanged points inside four minutes on the resumption the scoring rate dropped alarmingly.
Duhallow dominated possession through Bertie O’Callaghan and Aidan Walsh, but their poor shooting spoiled promising moves.
Following Hayes’s sending off for a trip on O’Leary, Duhallow edged in front with a Matthew Dilworth point after 48 minutes and although Collins replied with an excellent score three minutes later the divisional side still looked the more likely winners entering the final minutes.
And when substitute Jack Cott nudged them in front once more after 56 minutes it appeared the title was theirs until another substitute, Nolan, produced his decisive moment to swing it definitively Haven’s way again.
CASTLEHAVEN: P Hurley; D Limrick, L Collins, T O’Leary; R Whelton, D Cahalane (0-1 free), C Hayes; S Dineen, D Hurley; S Hurley, M Collins (0-3), A Cahalane; S Cahalane (0-1), D Burns, B Hurley (0-2). Subs: M Cahalane for Burns (39 mins), Shane Hurley for A Cahalane (43 mins), S Nolan (1-0) for Stephen Hurley (45 mins).
DUHALLOW: K Murphy (Boherbue); J McLoughlin (Kanturk), P Gayer (Castlemagner), AJ O'Connor (Kanturk); P O'Leary (0-1, Kanturk), G Healy (Ballydesmond), S Murphy (do); A Walsh (0-1, Kanturk, captain), B O'Callaghan (Ballydesmond); D O'Connor (0-4, two from frees, Ballydesmond), D Gayer (Castlemagner), L McLoughlin (Kanturk); K Holland (do), N Fleming (0-1, Ballydesmond), M Dilworth (0-1, Knocknagree). Subs: J Cott (0-1, Castlemagner) for Holland (43 mins), N O'Sullivan (Dromtarriffe) for Fleming (59 mins), K Buckley (Knocknagree) for Murphy (60 mins).
Referee: P O’Leary (Cork)
