Mixed fortunes for our adult hurlers

Friday night saw the weekends hurling action begin with a must win game against Horeswood. We started the game brightly thanks to some good play by Bertie Gahan and Dean Fenlon in particular with the latter getting a great goal from a well worked move. At half time there was only a point between the sides but Horeswood made much the brighter start to the second half and pulled clear, at one stage into a 13 point lead, but in typical fashion our lads fought right until the end and managed to force two late goals with the second coming from Sean McCabe to leave the final score 5-13  to 4-08 to Horeswood. This result leaves our lads 5th in the group and are finished for the year.

Team: Morgan Gahan, Paddy Walsh, Ray O Brien, Lee McHale, Robbie Donnelly, Paddy Breen, Stephen Lacey, Sean McCabe, Ciaran Rochford, Bertie Gahan, Shane Kehoe, Dean Fenlon, James Sweeney, Niall Finn, Adrian O Dowd. Sub’s: Daire Walsh, Adrian O Loughlin, Tomas O Leary and Morgan Rowsome.

The intermediate team faced blackwater knowing that a win would guarantee finishing top spot in the group regardless of the result of the last game in two weeks time. We started with scores from Padraig Flynn and Laurence Murphy before Blackwater rallied to go 4-2 ahead. Brian O Loughlin and Diarmuid Fenlon leveled the scores again before a well caught ball and a strong shot to goal from Blackwater’s Dean Wright put them 1-04 to 0-04 ahead. We traded points from Cathal Walsh, Damien Fenlon and others, until we managed to pull clear to lead at half time by 0-11 to 1-06. However the highlight of the first half was the gymnastic display given by Liam Gahan who was on the sideline through injury. The crowd were treated to a display of stretches and lunges before the routine finished off with Liam delighting the crowd by squat jumping over the boundary fence of the pitch. Not bad for a man with an injured hamstring.

As was the case in the first half our first score of the second half came from Padraig Flynn but we then conceded another goal to leave the score at 2-06 to 0-12. Blackwater looked dangerous at this stage but further points frpm the ever accurate Diarmuid Fenlon, Padraig Flynn, Matthew Dunne and a super long range effort from Stephen Murphy helped to steady the ship. A nervous moment towards the end resulted in a blackwater shot whistling just wide to leave the final score 0-19 to 2-11 in our favour.

Team: Morgan Gahan, Graham O Reilly, Chris Daly, Mick Sweeney, Ian Hawkins, Tommy Breen, Niall O’Reilly, Damien Fenlon, Laurence Murphy, Cathal Walsh, Stephen Murphy, Padraig Flynn, Diarmuid Fenlon, Brian O Loughlin, Matthew Dunne. Sub’s: Colm O Loughlin, Peter Mernagh, Mark Gahan.

Intermediate hurling v Shamrocks

Hurling games between Ourselves and the Shamrocks are always closely fought affairs, with both teams getting the better of close games over the last 6/7 years. Previous results in this group suggested that this game would be no different. We started brightly and went into a 7 points to 3 lead after twenty minutes thanks to scores from Diarmuid Fenlon, Brian O Loughlin, Laurence Murphy, Matthew Dunne and a couple of wonderful scores from Stephen Murphy. We let the shamrocks close the gap to one point before we got the last couple of scores to lead at half time by 0-10 to 0-07. The second half began with the lively Brandon O Connor getting his third point of the game for the Shamrocks. However some resolute defending kept further scores at bay. Up front Brian O Loughlin, Cathal Walsh and Stephen Murphy kept our score ticking over, before Peter Mernagh scored the last point of the game to leave the final score 0-16 to 0-13. That’s three wins from three games and we are now qualified for the quarter finals.

Team: Sean Murphy, Liam Gahan, Chris Daly, Graham O Reilly, Niall O Reilly, Tommy Breen, Mick Sweeney, Ian Hawkins, Laurence Murphy, Cathal Walsh, Stephen Murphy, Damien Fenlon, Diarmuid Fenlon, Brian O Loughlin, Matthew Dunne. Sub’s: Colm O Loughlin for Damien Fenlon, Peter Mernagh for Cathal Walsh.

Junior A Football v Clongeen

The long and winding road to clongeen was the journey for the eagerly anticipated clash in the Junior A football championship. At lunchtime on Wednesday our management had 17 lads available, while that number had dwindled away to only 12 definite attendee’s by lunchtime today. We are very grateful to the lads who left work early and others who made themselves available to leave us with 16 players for the game.

We started the game well with the fantastic Daire Turner scoring from all angles, including his first ever 45,  while the mercurial Barry Murphy was equally as effective at raising the flags. Other scores from John Ivory, Pa Walsh, Adam Dunne, Ciaran Rochford, a goal from Paudi Cooney, left the half time score at 4-13 to 0-02.

The second half was a more even affair with Clongeen enjoying some well earned scores. Goals from Adrian o Loughlin and Peter Mernagh, along with more points from the deadly duo meant that we held our own to secure a 6-17 to 2-07 victory.

This victory leaves our lads on 3 points from 4 games with the last round against Adamstown most likely in two weeks.

Team: Colin Hawkins, Daire Walsh, James Donohoe, Adrian O Loughlin, Paudi Cooney, Ray O Brien, Ciaran Rochford, James Gahan, James Breen, Denis Walsh, Barry Murphy, Pa Walsh, John Ivory, Daire Turner, Adam Dunne.

Sub’s: Peter Mernagh for Denis Walsh, Denis Walsh for John Ivory, John Ivory for Barry Murphy