1996 Reunion

Argideen’s 1996 Hurling Season

During the year a number of club players had representative success with Cork. Bill Harte won a Fitzgibbon Cup with UCC – not bad going for a “fresher”! Rising young star Michael O’Callaghan won an All-Ireland Vocational Schools Hurling title with Cork when they defeated a fancied Galway team in the final. Club captain, Tony Crowley added a Munster Junior Hurling title to his collection when Cork beat Tipperary at Cashel in the final. The Argideen team began their hurling season with an opening league 2-17 to 2-4 win over Kilbrittain. They followed that with a 1-9 to 0-7 victory over Clonakilty. They were quickly brought back to reality when Barryroe scored a late goal to snatch the league points at Timoleague with a 1-9 to 0-11 win. They got back on the horse again when accounting for Ballinascarthy with a 1-17 to 1-7 league win. Next up were Bandon who had inflicted a shattering defeat on Argideen the previous season in the championship final at Barryroe. Bandon were also on top in this league fixture at Bandon wining 2-12 to 2-10. So as one can see, league form was mixed as the team approached a first round championship game with Kilbrittain at Barryroe at the end of June.

 A report on the game mentioned that it was like the wedding feast at Cana, as Argideen reserved the best until the last quarter. While the final score of 1-14 to 0-2 in Argideen’s favour, may be a bit misleading as Kilbrittain did miss four golden goal opportunities in the opening half which might have resulted in a much- changed score line at the end. Both Michael O’Callaghan and Michael Walsh in the wing forward positions belied their youth and fired over six points between them from distance. Team captain Tony Crowley showed his class at mid-field with five points and with John Crowley, Barry Harte and Mark Foley also on the score sheet and when substitute Emmett Harrington scored the only goal of the game, Argideen booked their place in the semi-final where fellow parishioners Ballinascarthy awaited. Team: F Walsh, S Crowley, P O’Callaghan, E Guinevan, J Dineen, B Harte, N Ryan, T Crowley, M Harte, M Walsh, B Harte, M O’Callaghan, D Crowley, M Foley, J Crowley. Sub: E Harrington.