Matthew Fitzgerald leads the way for Castletroy College in vital Harty Cup victory over Colaiste Choilm:

By Siadbh Redmond Limerick Leader Sport

CASTLETROY College have secured a vital victory over Colaiste Choilm Ballincollig in round two of the Dr Harty Cup Munster Post-Primary U19 hurling competition with a huge 3-21 to 0-17 win in Ballyagran this afternoon.

Matthew Fitzgerald lead the way for his side scoring 0-14 (0-11 frees) throughout and reigniting the Limerick schools hopes of reaching the knock-out stages of the Harty Cup.

Liam Reale’s side will now face Our Lady’s Templemore in the third round of the competition on Wednesday, November 20.

The contest in Ballyagran between Castletroy and Colaiste Choilm was back and forth in the opening minutes with Colaiste’s Eoin Dwyer firing over the first score for his side from a free after one minute.

Castletroy’s reply came almost three minutes later when a fabulous strike from midfielder James Rennison sailed over the bar. The lead was interchangeable in these opening 10 minutes with Dwyer stepping up for another free while Harry McDermott did well to collect a miscued puck-out to leave the teams level on two points a piece after eight minutes.

It looked like the Limerick team struggled at times to find their midfielders and half-forwards from the puck-outs resulting in short attempts to the corner backs, who were put under immediate pressure by Colaiste’s forwards.

Sloppy passing by the Castletroy backs resulted in an easy point for Dwyer again. This score was cancelled out by Matthew Fitzgerald’s first free of the game on the other end.

Colaiste Choilm enjoyed most of the possession in the first-half with Eoin Dwyer sending another free over the black spot, closely followed by Niall Buckley’s effort from play to put them two-points ahead.
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Desperate to not let the Cork side gain any more of a lead, after shooting four wides at this stage, Fitzgerald fired over a free to put them right back into the game, but the momentum stayed with the Ballincollig secondary school.

A 65′ and a free from Dwyer, who was Colaiste’s top-scorer on the day, put them ahead by two points, 0-7 to 0-5, after 35 minutes of play. It was Matthew Fitzgearld once again that kept his side in the mix putting over two huge frees, one from inside his own half and the other from his own sideline, to put Castletroy within a point of their opponents.

Colaiste Choilm looked to finish the half off strongly with two more frees from Eoin Dwyer before a quick sideline from Castletroy saw the ball launched in from Conor Gavin. With the sliothar dropping into the full-forward line, Robert O’Farrell did well to gather it and strike off his left to fire the ball into the back of the net and score a goal totally against the run of play on 30 minutes.

Dwyer left Colaiste Choilm ahead at the break slotting over two more frees before the half-time whistle to leave it 0-12 to 1-8 in their favour.

It looked to be a completely different Castletroy College team in the second-half as they began to win all the 50/50 balls that were breaking in the middle of the field.

Colaiste came out and added the first score of the half through full-forward Niall Buckley, followed by a lovely linking play from Ciaran O’Donoghue to Eoin Dwyer to put them 0-14 to 1-8 up.

On the 33 minute mark Castletroy awoke with Matthew Fitzgerald finding Harry McDermott to get their first score of the second-half. Scores were exchanged by either side in the first 10 minutes of this half with Fitzgerald levelling the game on 35 minutes with a free.

Eoin Dwyers sideline found Buckley in the centre of the field to slot over another point for the Cork school before the onslaught of scores began for Castletroy.

With Robert O’Farrell operating in the full-forward line he became a target for the Castletroy players to feed as he reached for the high ball, composed himself, and fired off his second goal of the game to put them ahead after 41 minutes, 2-12 to 0-16.

For the next 10 minutes Castletroy put on a shooting display with Fitzgerald slotting over three points, one from play, while also linking up with O’Farrell, to keep the score board ticking over for the Limerick school.

With the game slipping away from them, Colaiste Choilm got their final score of the game when Dwyer found a free Kevin O’Leary on the opposite side of the pitch.

There was no stopping Fitzgerald at this stage as he fired over a further three frees complimented by Cillian Clifford’s two efforts from play.

Castletroy College were well and truly hurling in the closing stages of the game with Barry Griffin making a huge run down the sideline to find his captain Cian Scully cutting inside the defenders. With the ball placed in front of him Scully made no mistake with the shot, firing the sliothar into the back of Ballincollig’s net.

With the win secured Fitzgerald slotted over his last free on 60 minutes to leave them with the 3-21 to 0-17 victory over Colaiste Choilm.

SCORERS CASTLETROY COLLEGE: Matthew Fitzgerald 0-14 (0-11 frees), Robert O’Farrell 2-1, Cian Scully 1-0, Harry McDermott 0-2, Cillian Clifford 0-2, Barry Griffin and James Rennisson 0-1 each. COLAISTE CHOILM BALLINCOLLIG: Eoin Dwyer 0-11 (0-8 frees, 0-1 65′), Niall Buckley 0-5, Kevin O’Leary 0-1

CASTLETROY COLLEGE: Eoin Murrihy (Ahane), Louis Ferland (Monaleen), Denis Blackwell (Ahane), Marcus Southern (Monaleen), Conor Gavin (Monaleen), Cian Scully (C) (Monaleen), Conor Bowles (Monaleen), Peter Scully (Monaleen), James Rennisson (Ahane), Harry McDermott (Monaleen), Robert O’Farrell (Kildimo-Pallaskenry), Barry Griffin (Monaleen), Conor Ryan (Monaleen), Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen), Cillian Clifford (Monaleen) SUBS: Anton Donohoe for C Bowles (22 minutes), Dara Moloughney for C Clifford (60 minutes), John O’Halloran for C Ryan (62 minutes)

COLAISTE CHOILM BALLINCOLLIG: Donnachadh Murphy, Colm Herlihy, Shane O’Callaghan, Jack Murphy, Kevin O’Leary, Darragh Clifford, Shane O’Sullivan, Alan Heelan, Cian O’Connor, Cian Ahern, Danny Miskella, Luke O’Mahony, Ciaran O’Donoghue, Niall Buckley, Eoin Dwyer. SUBS: Michael O’Donoghue for C Murphy (60 minutes)

REFEREE: John O’Halloran (Bruree)