Cuddy delighted as Castletown pass stern Leinster test

CASTLETOWN manager Ger Cuddy was in good spirits after seeing his side come out on top in a tough contest against Kilmessan in their Leinster Club IHC clash on Saturday.

The Laois PIHC champions made the trip to Trim to take on the Meath SHC champions in a quarter-final five weeks after their win over Camross in the PIHC final.

When asked about keeping focus within the group Cudd said, “There’s no bother focusing them boys, they’re a great bunch of lads.

“We had a couple of forced changes that we had to make today, but there’s a list of lads ready to jump in.

“We spoke about the 2016 Leinster championship and being beaten in the first round, we had so much put in this year that we didn’t want a repeat of that.

“We knew it was going to be tricky, I’ve watched these for six weeks.

“The six week break didn’t do us a huge help if I’m honest without a game in between that.

“But listen, I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them, that was a great game of hurling.

“It ebbed, it flowed, it had a bit of everything and the referee did a good job.

“He told us before that he was going to let it roll and he did that, and Kilmessan can be very proud of themselves it was a cracking game of hurling.” Kilmessan brought a huge amount of physicality to the game but Cuddy praised his players for how they dealt with it and also expressed how important it is to have strong back up.

“It’s the time of the year for it and we discussed that in detail with them,” said the Castletown boss.

“The summer hurling is great, there’s a nice bounce to the ball, nice fast moving ball but it’s different now, you look at the physicality of some of the teams that we’ll have to play against now you’ll have to match their hurling and their physicality to overcome it and win the game.

“I think they did that today and when you have the likes of Conor Doran, Conor Phelan, Joe Phelan, Evan Cuddy, Dylan Conroy, Sean O’Connor, Mick Cuddy waiting to come on, there’s no better men to go.

“You could bring them anywhere in Leinster, there’s no better men.” Castletown have a young and quick forward unit and they got plenty of joy early on and Cuddy told us “That was the intention, to move the ball quickly, this is a narrow and shorter pitch, we knew it would get congested.

“We said put the ball in and give them a chance, they’re kids there’s still a lot of growing up in them.

“Dan Whelan eighteen today, Kyron Cuddy nineteen tomorrow, Tom Og Phelan eighteen, Tommy Goode eighteen, Callim Peters eighteen, all these guys are very young still.

“Then you move up along, Ryan Peters and Ray Goode still U20, they’re young boys but they have been developing.

“They’ve been asked to jump into the deep end at times and every time they’ve been asked they do their job.” Castletown led from the first minute but were pinned to their collar late in the game when the hosts got back level, but Cuddy and his team were able to draw on their experiences earlier in the year.

!We learned two big lessons this year, the Junior A final against PRT and similarly with Camross (PIHC final), you need to be ahead at the final whistle,” he explained.

“Against Camross we were three down at half time and we battled and battled, and within a couple of minutes we were a point up and held on at the end and that’s the trick.

“When we were four up at half time I said it to the boys ye’re only half way there, you’ve to go somewhere now that you haven’t been before and you have to empty the tanks.

“We have a bench and when Aaron (Phelan) got a belt in the face he said “I’m done lads, I can’t go back in”, and Conor Phelan came in and got a couple of points.

“That freshness, that energy, that physicality, that athleticism coming off the bench is exceptional, it’s brilliant.”