Blackwater boost
Seasiders sign off on perfect campaign
BLACKWATER CLAIMED the Enniscorthy Electrical Wholesale All-County Hurling League Division 7 title in Camolin on Tuesday, beating hosts St. Patrick’s to complete a perfect campaign.
The Wexford District crew came into the game as the team to beat, having strolled through the round-robin stage unbeaten. However, their hosts gave them a good game back in April and this was more of the same for 41 minutes.
Blackwater got off to a blistering start with a Dylan Dixon goal in the first 60 seconds, which came after great work by his midfield partner Kerril Sutton.
They led by 1-2 to nil after four minutes, only to go on a 25-minute scoreless streak.
In that time St. Patrick’s, hosts because they graciously agreed to change the fixture date at the champions’ request, scored seven points in a row, with Eamon O’Leary, in particular, slotting some fantastic scores.
Yet O’Leary’s missed penalty, saved low by Peter O’Brien, hurt their cause and Blackwater nabbed 1-2 in the last few minutes of the opening half, including Paul O’Leary’s well-taken goal when under heavy pressure to lead by 2-4 to 0-7 at the change of ends.
The gap was down to two in the 41st minute when Brian Cadigan registered a nice score for his side. However, that would prove to be the final time they registered in the game as Blackwater completely took over.
With 18 minutes remaining Paul O’Leary popped over a classy point and it opened the floodgates. Eight more followed as Blackwater won the crown in style.
Sutton got a couple of quality points, as the excellent Shane O’Leary brought his tally to four and Wayne O’Connor completed an influential second-half performance with his third minor as the seasiders ran out eleven-point winners.
Blackwater: Peter O’Brien; M.J. Kelly, Kevin Purcell, Ennae Carroll; Tomás O’Brien (0-1 free), Denis O’Brien, Eoin O’Neill; Dylan Dixon (10), Kerril Sutton (0-2); Wayne O’Connor (0-3, 2 frees), Shane O’Leary (0-4), Shane Wright; Kevin Corrigan (0-3 frees), Paul O’Leary (1-1), Paul Murphy (capt., 0-1). Subs. - Darragh Doyle for Wright (34), James Roche for Corrigan (50), Joe Neville for P. Murphy (55), Jack Sheridan for P. O’Leary (55), Mark Donoghue for Kelly (57), also Robert O’Leary, Eoin Buttle, Declan O’Leary, Brendan Murphy, Aaron Nobbs, Aidan Nobbs, Paddy Cullen, Paddy Lynch, Ian Curran, Conor O’Brien, Mikey Byrne, Harley Dunne, Shane Kehoe, Ben Redmond, Ger Lynch.
St. Patrick’s: Jack Quinn; Parish Flynn, John Cousins (capt.), Kyle Byrne; Joe Cousins, Niall O’Brien, Dave Kenny; Michael Byrne, Brian Cadigan (0-1); Lorcan Hamilton, Eamon O’Leary (0-7, 5 frees), Ian Maguire (0-1); Ashley Tully (0-1), Mark Furlong, Ger Gahan. Subs. - David Graham for Flynn, inj. (15), Caymon Flynn for Gahan (31), Seán Redmond for Kenny (47), Dillon Kavanagh for K. Byrne (58), Brendan Byrne for Hamilton (60+2), also David Tully, Seán Kavanagh, Cian Hogan, Stephen Ryan, Michael Carroll, Matthew Crawthe, Colin French, Conor O’Leary, Vincent Graham, John Morris, Paul McDonald.
Referee: Paul Browne (Clonee).