Devereux delivers for the seasiders
ST. MARY’S (R’LARE) 1-22 D’TOWN-C’CUDDY 1-19
THE ACCURACY of ace marksman Lee Devereux helped St. Mary’s (Rosslare) keep their hopes very much alive with a hard-earned three-point victory over Davidstown-Courtnacuddy in this Permanent TSB Junior hurling championship Group B game in Killurin on Sunday.
It was a game that turned into a shoot-out involving Devereux and Mark Byrne for the opposition, but while Byrne showed tremendous accuracy through the 60 minutes it was not sufficient to give his side a much-needed victory.
Instead the Devereux-inspired Rosslare team battled their way through a torrid second-half to fashion a hard-earned victory.
The Enniscorthy District side opened impressively and led by 0-4 to 0-2 after five minutes, with their points through James Kelly (two), Byrne (free) and veteran Johnny Delaney, while Devereux and Naomhan Rossiter were on target for the opposition.
After Devereux (free) and Kelly went on to exchange points, St. Mary’s got their only goal after eight minutes.
Devereux had a shot blocked but Paul Kinsella was on hand to fire the breaking ball to net, giving his side a 1-3 to 0-5 lead.
After Johnny Delaney had landed a fine point the sides were back level, but with St. Mary’s finding scoring that bit more easily through Devereux, Robert Butler, Jason Ellard and Rees Broaders, they managed to pull clear.
Davidstown-Courtacuddy gave themselves a real lift approaching the break with two Mark Byrne points, one from a free, leaving the eventual winners leading by 1-10 to 0-9 at the interval.
After both Byrne and Devereux had traded early second-half pointed frees, very little was to separate the sides through the opening ten minutes on the resumption, until an opportunist David Dunne goal, pulling a loose ball to the net, brought the sides level (1-13 each) after 42 minutes.
Davidstown-Courtnacuddy took the initiative for a brief spell as two Byrne points from play edged them in front, but by the end of the third quarter, points from Robert Butler and Devereux (free) had the sides back level (1-15 each).
As the game entered the closing five minutes just one point separated the sides, but a surge of late points through Devereux (’65), Paul Kinsella and Tiarnan Rossiter edged St. Mary’s clear, with David O’Dwyer managing a single response for the opposition who have yet to win a game.
St. Mary’s: Niall Walsh; Emmet Byrne, Conor Cafferkey, Gearóid Byrne; Larry Morrissey, David Murphy, Ned Power; Tiarnan Rossiter (0-2), Naomhan Rossiter (0-1); Paul Kinsella (1-3), Robert Butler (0-2), Jason Ellard (0-2); Lee Devereux (0-10, 4 frees, 1 ‘65), Ultan Quirke, Rees Broaders (02). Sub. - Daire Heffernan for Quirke.
Davidstown-Courtnacuddy: Stephen Dunbar; Ger Martin, Michael Murphy, Kevin Keane; Daryl Freeman, Darragh Cooper, Barry Nolan; David Dunne (1-1), James Doyle; James Kelly (0-3), Mark Byrne (0-11, 6 frees), David O’Dwyer (0-1); Seán Cooper, Johnny Delaney (0-3), Mark Murphy. Subs. - Daniel Delaney for Freeman, Paddy Kennedy for Delaney.
Referee: Stephen Burke (Volunteers).