Raharney lose out to St Mullins in Leinster SHC quarter final

Raharney suffered a disappointing Leinster SHC quarter-final loss against Carlow outfit St Mullins at Cusack Park on Sunday.

St Mullins have now won three Carlow Championships in a row and they overcame a shaky start to defeat Raharney.

Marty Kavanagh was outstanding for St Mullins, scoring 1-10 as the visitors recovered following a smart start by Raharney.

Johnny Greville’s charges led by 1-7 to 0-5 midway through the first half after a Robbie Greville goal, but St Mullins hit five points in a row as the teams went in level at the break.

James Doyle and Marty Kavanagh bagged goals in the second period for St Mullins and Raharney were knocked out.

In an interview with Midlands Sport 103, Greville revealed that he will step down as manager of the club: “It is the end of the road for me, I'm a long time with these boys, probably 12 years behind the scenes as a captain, manager, and as a player,” he commented.

“I did my three year stint with them, we won two out of three and were beaten in a final. I've done my bit for Raharney and I think it is time for somebody else to come in to push them on that little bit extra. Maybe it will push them on that step further.”

"Bitterly disappointed, as I said to them this was a once-off match, a quarter final of a Leinster Championship,” Greville reflected. “We were in Mullingar, we knew we had a great opportunity, we were five points up, 1-7 to 0-5, we were playing well, things were starting to go well, we were settling, but then we made three or four basic errors to allow them get a few frees towards the end of the first half.

“They had quality forwards up front like Marty Kavanagh, he was very lively. Their goal was the killer score at the end of it. We did our work on them. In the Carlow County Championship Seamus Murphy, Jack Kavanagh, Marty Kavanagh, and James Doyle had scored 7-82 out of 7-99 that they had scored in the six rounds up to the final.

“Those four players were key for them. We knew Seamus Murphy was going to be strong in the air and they'd have runners off the shoulder. I thought we managed them okay because he didn't break in too often, but he did get a few soft frees when he did get inside. Maybe then a bit of dissent from us, the referee moved the ball up. Discipline was maybe an issue there too.”

“We had a couple of chances in the second half when lads went for goals when they should maybe have popped them over the bar.”

 

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