Celtic Challenge Round Up -
July 03, 2019
As people may be aware of by now, Brian Cotter and Darragh O Grady from the Killavullen club were an integral part of the Cork North team that reached the final of the Celtic challenge last Saturday. Though ultimately, coming up short on the day, against a very talented Galway Maroon selection, we in Killavullen are very proud of our local involvement with the team.
The Cork North Team was drawn in a group with Clare Saffrons, Kerry, Limerick Sarsfields and Cork Mid-West.
The opening game in the campaign was against Cork Mid-West, played in Donoughmore where we (North Cork) were victorious on a score line of 1-17 to 1-14
The second game in the group saw the visit of Clare Saffrons to Ballyhea, in another great game it was our ability to score goals which was the difference on the night winning 5-12 to 1-12.
Next up we made the trip to Tralee to play the only Kerry team entered in the competition. A great game saw both teams share the points on a score line of 3-20 to 2-23
The final game in the group saw us face Limerick Sarsfields, knowing a win would put us into the Division 1 of the All Ireland series, the players again showed their threat in front of goals winning on a score line of 4-15 to 12 points. This win qualified us for an All-Ireland quarter final where we would face a very strong Tipperary Gold team.
This was a cracking game of hurling played in Golden Co. Tipperary. The teams couldn't be separated in normal time and two periods of extra time were called, at the end of this our lads just came out on top on a score line of 5-15 to 1-25.
This set up an all Cork All Ireland semi-final between ourselves and Cork East played in Ballinlough, again it was our ability to find the net and keep them out at the other end which was the difference between the two teams on the day and we won on a score line of 3-13 to 1-17.
Reaching the Division 1 final was a fantastic achievement for these local players and management and the support of the parish of Killavullen was greatly appreciated by the players. The club took the entire Killavullen minor team to Tullamore by bus, along with 4 mentors of the team, to support Darragh and Brian.
However, sport is cruel, and despite being ahead at half time, the Galway selection overpowered the North cork selection in the end, on a final score of Galway Maroons
4-24 as against 2-12 for North Cork.
Both Darragh and Brian can be immensely proud of the contribution in the final, and in the path to the final.
