Munster Club SFC quarter-final: Dr Crokes (Kerry) 1-15 Castlehaven (Cork) 1-8 IT’S far too early to mark a ceiling for this nascent Dr Crokes side but, make no mistake, this was a significant victory. They won’t afford themselves a hearty welcome just yet but with the reigning Munster champions now out of their way, and other All-Ireland contenders falling over the weekend, there could be a bit of winter training there yet for Pat O’Shea and co. Castlehaven aren’t your garden variety Cork champions.
They are durable and smart and sprinkled with inter-county steel. There are mitigating circumstances to consider in this end to their campaign – they started minus Damien Cahalane and Rory Maguire and with ten minutes left, they lost Brian Hurley to a straight red card. They are tough rebounds, though they won’t want to point to excuses.
And Mark Collins didn’t. “We were beaten by the better team today, Crokes are good,” he said. There were other small but important elements favouring Crokes.
Brian Hurley would fancy his chances against any club defender in Munster on his day. The one player who can match him, indeed probably better him, for pace is Gavin White of Dr Crokes. Hence the Haven forward leader never really had the influence on proceedings that Castlehaven demanded.
When he got on possession, Jack Cahalane looked the liveliest visiting attacker. Much like the game itself, Castlehaven never really fired. They only led for a sum total of three minutes at.
