We kicked off our Cavanaghs of Fermoy div 1 hurling league at home to Fermoy on Saturday night and claimed the 2 points on offer with a hard fought win against a big physical Fermoy outfit. We lined out with a very strong squad of players and after our exciting exploits in the Munster and All Ireland championship over the last few months we were ready to hit the ground running.

Fermoy won the toss and decided to play towards the village end and they would also have a very strong gale wind behind their backs for the first half. We started very brightly and were leading two points to noting after 7 minutes with our scores coming from Jamie Sheedy and Haulie Burke. In the first few minutes Fermoy registered two wides of their own and all through the first half they would be off target at least 10 times from frees and play.

Paul Burke kept us ahead with an excellent point from play after 15mins. Fermoy had the next three points as they began to find the target and use the wind to their advantage. We then had the all important score when a high ball into the square seemed to tailing wide but thankfully the ball came off the upright and the alert Jonathan Dennehy was on hand the finish to the net and get us back in the game.

From here to half time we tacked on two more points and Fermoy had one more point to see us lead 1-5 to 0-6. We now had the wind at our backs for the second half and we got the ideal start when Paul Burke pointed inside the first two minutes and this was followed by a great goal from the hard working Brian Sheedy when he rattled the net from close range.

We were well on top and this scoring burst really put us on our way. Haulie Burke had our next point to put us 2-7 to 0-6 ahead. Fermoy fought back with two good scores of their own to keep in touch but they were finding it very hard to get a hold on the game and thankfully our outstanding  back-line were keeping their dangerous forwards under wraps.

From here to the end we had some excellent scores from frees and play coming from Jamie Sheedy(0-4) and Haulie Burke(0-2) to run out very convincing winners and claim the points on offer. This was a great start to the league and we had some excellent performances especially from our back-line.

Stephen Donegan in goals replaced the injured Declan Fitzgibbon and Stephen made a number of good saves and was very confident under the high ball when called upon, in front of him Alan Sheedy, Sean Lynch, and Richard Burke kept tabs on a very lively Fermoy inside forward line. Outside them the half back line of Eoin McHugh, Eoin O’Regan and James Hayes were very dominate and worked very hard all through. Haulie and Darren were as always very busy around the middle of the field and worked hard in the first half against the wind helping the back line.

The half forward line of Brian Sheedy and the O’Reilly brother’s Colman and Brian really got into the game in the second half with the wind at our backs and all three put in a fierce amount of work against the elements in the first half. Our inside forward line of Jonathan Dennehy, Paul Burke and Jamie Sheedy were outstanding from start to finish and all three got very important scores when the ball was delivered into them. The second half subs of Robert McHugh, Padraig Fitzgerald and Vincent Burke all slotted in with ease and played very well after coming on.

Team: Stephen Donegan, Alan Sheedy, Sean Lynch, Richard Burke, Eoin O’Regan, Eoin McHugh, James Hayes, Darren Roche, Haulie Burke, Brian Sheedy, Brian O’Reilly, Colman O’Reilly, Paul Burke, Jonathan Dennehy, Jamie Sheedy, Subs: Robert McHugh for Darren Roche, Padraig Fitzgerald for Brian Sheedy, Vincent Burke for Paul Burke.