Tadgh MacCárthaighs 0-15, Shamrocks 0-12.
After the disappointment of the previous Saturday night (below), Shamrocks had to pick themselves up and make the long trip to Aughaville to play the home side in the latest round of the league. With 4 teams from Carbery in our section, this was the last long journey west but it could turn out to be a useful exercise with the game against Kinsale coming up on Saturday night in the championship. Shamrocks needed to get the bad display from Saturday night out of the system and on this occasion, they largely did; but as usual they mixed the good with the bad.
However, with an eye on the upcoming championship game, Shamrocks finished very well and indeed can count themselves a bit unlucky that they didnt come away with at least a point for their efforts. The first half was all different. On a huge pitch, Shamrocks started brightly and Joe Shanahan and Brian Sweeney had Shamrocks 2 points up early. However, once again, turnovers were to prove costly as from there to the break, Tadhg MacCárthaighs punished every loose Shamrocks pass and kick. They stormed into an 0-8 to 0-2 lead and a drubbing looked likely. However, Shamrocks steadied the ship coming up to halftime and went in losing 0-10 to 0-5 at the break – it could have been much worse.
After a few words were spoken at halftime, Shamrocks were a transformed team in the second half and completely dominated exchanges. More so possession, less so the scoreboard. They got as close as 0-13 to 0-11 behind with 10 minutes to go but MacCárthaigh were way more ecomomical with their limited possession and they just about kept Shamrocks at bay. But, it was an encouraging second half responce to a mini crisis. Throughout the game, Shanahan did the bulk of the scoring along with contributions from Sweeney, Alan McCarthy and sub Stephen Keane.
