Munster v Dragons

Munster played the Gwent Dragons at Musgrave Park,Cork on Sunday last .

The atmosphere was electric.We all came to see the new kid on the block, Jean De Villiers.Fresh from ,what must be for him ,the season of his life.South Africa have just won the Tri Nations and also come through a tough Lions series with a 2-1 series win.

A full house at Musgrave Park as O'Callaghan goes highest at the lineout.

As well as De Villiers,Munster welcomed back some of their "big guns",Donnacha O' Callaghan,Ronan O'Gara,and Thomas O'Leary.
For O'Leary it was his first competitive start since breaking his ankle at this same venue last April.

The first half was a tame enough affair with just a penalty a piece to show on the scoreboard at half time.Indeed the Dragons should have been ahead by 3 points when a perfectly good drop goal just on the stroke of half time was disallowed by the TV match official.I was directly behind the goal and the ball went right between the posts!
Whatever Tony McGahan said to his players at the interval, worked wonders.
Munster came out with all guns blazing and it was the forgotton man from New Zealand, Nick Williams, who showed them the way.At the final whistle he had gone over for 3 tries and came close on at least another 3 occasions.

Nick Williams going over for one of his three trys.

Dougie Howlett chipped in with a marvellous solo effort, and Munster ran out comfortable winners on the day,with a scoreline of 29-3.

Dougie Howlett scores a wonderful solo try at Musgrave Park

The only note of concern was the kicking performance of O'Gara.He missed a number of very kickable attempts.Lets hope that he'll have his eye in for next weeks big clash with near rivals a Leinster at the RDS.
Best for Munster were, De Villiers, Alan Quinlan(who went off injured) and the outstanding Nick Williams.

Carrauntohill

The Hags Glen at 7am is a magical place. As I walked through the Glen ,surrounded by Irelands largest peaks, the only sounds are from the river Gaddagh and the odd bird chirping as the Sun rises up from the East.
It's about a 2.5 mile trek to the base of Carrauntohil, and the closer you get , the more daunting it seems.It was a good day for climbing.Cool but not cold. Virtually no wind.So no excuses!!

The route I chose was up through 'O Sheas Gully and assuming all went well I planned to descend down through the aptly named "Heavenly Gates".
I managed to reach the summit after about 2.5 hours, a little bit out of breath , but none the worse for wear. I had the summit all to myself(first time this has happend for me).

Unfortunately by the time I had reached the top, the clouds descended and shrouded the summit.Visabilty was down to about 30-40 feet.
Soon, others started arriving, one guy was setting up a checkpoint for a charity hike.He told me that there were about 50 people taking part.

Another thing which caught my eye was this little plaque that was at the summit.I think it goes to show that the old saying "your health is your wealth", really is worth remembering, especially in our current economic climate.
I have since found out that the plaque was left here by Gerry Walker.
Gerry suffered from Cystic Fibrosis, and recieved a double lung transplant from Martin.
He has since gone on to climb the 4 highest peaks in Ireland,Scotland,Wales and England.
More info here....http://www.4peaks4life.ie/index.html

The Plaque which caught my eye at the summit.

So getting up was one thing and now my journey down...

From the summit, I headed down towards the Devils Ladder, before I got to the start of the Ladder,I turned left and was able to pick up the path to the "Heavenly Gates".

View from the Heavenly Gates

This is probably the easiest and most scenic route down from Carraun.It takes you down past the Kerry Mountain Rescue hut, and eventually down under the famed "Hags Tooth" until you reach Lough Gouragh .From there its a lovely trek back through the Hags Glen, to Cronins Yard.

The Gap of Dunloe

Finally the Sun came out for a few days.
After months of dismal weather, the Sun made an appearance this week......
So on with the hiking boots and off to Killarney!

I decided to take a trip into the Gap, and follow a route from a book written by Sean Higgisson.

I Started at Kate Kearney´s Cottage at. It is an easy and fast ascent from Gap of Dunloe via Turf Path to the elevated bog plain around Strickeen Hill. Here the path ends and i passed Strickeen Hill on left, crossing the bog field and heading for the path on the foot of Cnoc an Bhraca. I arrived on summit after 1.5 hrs walk. Here are great views to the Reeks, the Black Valley and Purple Mountain.

Descending via Cnoc na dTarbh and Drishana, and from here following the fence to reached the Black Valley road southwest of the Madman´s Seat. Back through the Gap of Dunloe. The whole walk took around 5 hrs.

Carrig v Castlelyons

Beware the wounded hurler.......And Seanie Farrell.

Carrigtwohills Senior Hurlers maintained there senior status in a gripping encounter with Castlelyons in Ballynoe.
This was a game of two halves, the first half saw Carrig dominate their opponents in almost every position and go in at half time 6 points to the good. The cause was helped along nicely with a smashing goal from Thomas Hogan. At the interval the Large crowd must have thought that this game was over.
Castlelyons however had other thoughts, and faced with the spectre of playing Intermediate hurling next season,they came out with all guns blazing.
Their cause was aided greatly by Timmy McCarthy, who blasted home a 21 yard free to the roof of the net. From being 6 points down at half time ,Castleloyons were now a point to the good and only seven mins gone in the second half. Game on!
From where I was sitting , it was notable that Niall Mac, was still suffering with the shoulder injury, and as the match wore on, the Carrig manager Eoin O'Mahony made what was to be the master stroke of the night.
He switched Seanie Farrell and Niall Mac.

Seanie came more and more into the game and won a pile of ball.
He was able to feed Niall, now playing at full forword.
Niall blasted two fantastic goals, both goals came from Seanie Farrell passes.
This proved just to much firepower for Castleloyns, when the Final whistle sounded it was Carrig who will go into the hat for the senior hurling championship draw for 2010, and Castleloyns will play Intermediate hurling next season.

But this wasn't just about these two. This was truly a great team performance.
The Carrig Goalie, William McCarthy made some great stops, and his puckouts were very effective.Sean Lordan gave a wonderful display.Jason Barrett score some sublime points.Everyone of the Carrig players deserve great credit for the performance tonight, especially in the second half. When Castlyons asked the quistions ,Carrig came up with the answers.
Role on next Season!

Carrig V Midleton.......The Replay

After such an epic first encounter, I don't think many of us thought that this match could live up to our expectations.How wrong we were.

In front of a packed house at Castlemartyr, we witnessed one of the great championship matches of the year.Both teams gave their all and hurled themselves to a standstill.

It is often said at these types of matches......"no quarter was asked or given".Well if that applied to any match ,then this was it.

For the second time in sucession, 70 minutes couldn't seperate these two fine sides.
Carrig were dealt a double blow in extra time with the loss of Noel Furlong and Niall McCarthy.
This tipped the balance in Midletons favour and the managed to tag on 3 unanswered points to run out winners on the night.

So relief for Midleton, as they stay senior for another year at least.
For Carrig it means that they now have to go to the last chance saloon, and take their chances in the relegation final.
Castlelyons will be Carrigs opponents in the relegation match, and that match is to be played at Ballynoe.
In the meantime Carrig have an anxious wait on their injured players Niall and Noel, to see if they will be fit for the playoff.