Kanturk and Castleview play out a thrilling draw
Home side unlucky not to claim full league points
Tom Fitzgibbon on the ground scores for Kanturk despite the close attention of Castleviews Thomas Martin and Paul Connelly during the Cork AUL PremierA League game in Gurteenard last Saturday
Thursday March 11 2010
PREMIER A league leaders Kanturk welcomed mid table Castleview to Gurteenard on Saturday for this league encounter and welcomed them with arms (goalmouth) opened wide by giving them a three-goal start.
Twenty minutes into the game Kanturk had conceded three goals and Castleview were completely on top. Playing a no nonsense direct game, Castleview opened the scoring after six minutes when a long ball behind the Kanturk defence was dispatched past a helpless John Murphy in the Kanturk goal.
This was repeated in the 12th minute when Castleview took the direct route and the long ball to the wing found Patrick O'Sullivan and his cross was met by centre forward Timmy Long and Castleview were two ahead. A third soon followed and Kanturk were at sixes and sevens and looked to be in for a bit of a trouncing.
However, Kanturk dug deep and with Anthony Barry and Matty Riordan fighting for every ball in midfield they gradually played their way into the game and were rewarded on the half hour mark when with great determination and a little luck Tom Fitzgibbon bundled the ball past Thomas Martinto open the scoring for Kanturk.
This goal got Kanturk right back into the game and right on half-time they got their second and went in at the break in a much more favourable position just the one goal in arrears. Five minutes into the second half Castleview got their fourth goal and again Kanturk were caught out by the long ball behind the defence.
Two in arrears again, Kanturk had a mountain to climb to get back into the game and for the next 15 minutes they took control of the game and pressed forward relentlessly.
They were rewarded in the 65th minute when Tom Fitzgibbon broke clear on the left and his cross was volleyed to the Castleview net by Matty Riordan past a helpless Thomas Martin. Kanturk kept up the pressure looking for the equaliser and again Tom Fitzgibbon was the one to come up with the goods. This time he did it all by himself. Picking up a ball in midfield, he ran at the Castleview defence and with two defenders snapping at his heels and the Castleview keeper advancing he curled a shot around the advancing keeper into the net. Four all and still 15 minutes to go â?“ what a game?
It now seemed that Kanturk had the upper hand and would press on from here to win the game, but Castleview had other ideas and began to get on top in midfield where Conor O'Neill and Paul Connolly were starting to dominate this key area.
However, Castleview were dealt a cruel blow with ten minutes left when Conor O'Neill had to leave the field due to an injury he picked up in a tackle with Kanturk midfield player Colin Stack. The loss of O'Neill and the disruption in play allowed Kanturk to survive the Castleview pressure and they saw out the rest of the game without conceding any more goals.
Kanturk got a point that seemed unlikely after 20 minutes and Castleview will feel that they should have taken all three points on offer. A cracking game with eight goals, what more could you ask for on a Saturday afternoon and neither team deserved to lose.
