GARVEYS SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIPDR

CROKES 0-17 ABBEYDORNEY 0-18

Dr Crokes went down by the narrowest of margins in our opening of the Garvey’s County Senior Hurling Championship. 

In what was a historic day for Dr Crokes, centre forward David Carroll wrote his name into the Crokes history books, scoring our first point at senior level after 3 minutes.  

We trailed by 2 points at the water break, 0-5 to 0-3, with a Mark Heffernan free and a fine point from midfielder Jack Lenihan. 

Abbeydorney also won the second quarter 5 points to 3, with 3 pointed free’s from Heffernan keeping us in contention. 

The full back line, led by captain Mike Milner were inspirational and kept the main Abbeydorney strike force at bay. Cathal White and Shane Lyne with some vital turnovers at critical times for Crokes. We trailed 10 points to 6 at the interval. 

An early free and 2 quickfire points after the break meant Abbeydorney were suddenly into a 7 point lead and on a team’s debut at Senior level you might think that was to be that. But the mindset of this Crokes side is to fight the fight. 3 points from Mark Heffernan, 2 from frees and a Tom Doyle score from range left it 16 points to 10 at the second water break. 

Midfield pairing of Jack Lenihan and Declan Hickey stepped up and won a high percentage of puck outs in the middle of the park, with the assistance of centre back Colm Ó Cuív. 

A determined fightback in the final quarter saw us finish the stronger, winning it by 7 points to 2. 

Dave Carroll slotted over his second point of the game, half time substitute Aaron Murphy with 1, Goalkeeper Conor Bohane with a free from distance and 4 from Mark Heffernan saw us trailing by just one point in the final minute of injury time. 

But, that was to be it, Abbeydorney won the final puck out and the comeback fell just short at the death. 

But it really was a spirited fightback from the Crokes side who will take positive into next weeks clash against Crotta O Neills. We know only a win will do if we are to progress from the group stages and into the quarterfinals. 

Final score: Abbeydorney 0-18 Dr Crokes 0-17 

Team and scorers: 

Conor Bohane (0-1), Cathal White, Mike Milner (c), Patrick Crehan, Gary O Connor, Colm Ó CuÍv, Shane Lyne, Jack Lenihan (0-1) Declan Hickey, Tom Doyle(0-1), David Carroll (0-2), Ciaran Kennedy, Mark Heffernan (0-11, 9F), Michael Lenihan, Rob Ryan. Subs used: Aaron Murphy (0-1), Rory Waters. 

 A tremendous display by the lads, who now look forward to round 2 game v Crotta O`Neills Friday August 6th in Austin Stack Park.