Juniors complete fruitful weekend
THE RAPPAREES survived a few rocky first-half moments before emerging from St. Patrick’s Park with the spoils from their opening Permanent TSB Junior hurling championship Group A fixture at the expense of Monageer-Boolavogue on Sunday.
The winning margin of nine points looked supremely unlikely when the townies were under pressure, and they needed a couple of good saves to remain at level pegging in the first-half.
However, they made the most of a helpful breeze after the break, plus a mysterious Monageer-Boolavogue scoring drought as their neighbours went 24 minutes without raising a flag.
The Bellefield boys had the opening point from an Ed Tobin free, followed by an intricately worked goal in which at least five of his team-mates were involved before Craig Foley clipped the sliothar to Niall Finn’s net.
Monageer-Boolavogue responded smartly, pulling level on ten minutes as Damien Fenlon picked off a point and then Paddy Walsh plundered a memorable goal – great catch, great run and then a great explosive shot.
When Brian Dwyer was awarded their second goal, despite the fact that it went through a hole in the net behind Pa Doyle, the side in red were ahead for the first time and the Rapparees’ goal continued in the firing line.
Doyle made one good save from a Lee McHale shot and then midfielder Tommy Foley came to his rescue shortly afterwards, miraculously appearing behind the ‘keeper to deny Colm O’Loughlin after another Walsh surge created panic in the square.
The scoreline read Rapparees 1-6, Monageer-Boolavogue 2-3 at the break and, when Peter Mernagh galloped through to register a nicely taken point for the latter shortly after the resumption, they threatened to be contenders.
Instead, they did not score again until the 55th minute, with the Raps tally rising to 2-11 in the meantime.
Their second goal fell to full-forward John Ryan, who was on hand to tuck the ball away uncontested after ‘keeper Finn and attacker Craig Foley comically collided.
The winning momentum was sustained by Ed Tobin’s steady free-taking and Ryan, whose duel with full-back Tomás O’Leary provided plenty of gritty entertainment, collected a point.
Monageer-Boolavogue’s second point of a frustrating half came from a Peter Mernagh free deflected over as he went in search of goal. But this only served to provoke a final run of points at the other end as the Rapparees continued to prosper despite the loss of lively midfielder Conor Ronan through injury.
Rapparees: Pa Doyle; Cathal Ryan, Tom Wall, Mark Redmond; Anthony Peare, Eon Quigley (0-1), Mick Delaney; Tommy Foley, Conor Ronan (0-1); Dylan McVeigh, Ed Tobin (0-9, 6 frees), Craig Foley (1-1); Joe Cullen, John Ryan (1-1), Neil McCrea (0-1). Sub. - Michael Dempsey for Ronan (42).
Monageer-Boolavogue: Niall Finn; Seán O’Leary, Tomás O’Leary, Lee McHale; Paddy Walsh (1-0), Ray O’Brien, Arran Breslin; Damien Fenlon (0-1), Seán McCabe; Stephen Murphy, David Breen (0-1), James Donohoe; Peter Mernagh (0-3, 1 free), Colm O’Loughlin, Brian Dwyer (1-0). Subs. - Dean Fenlon for S. O’Leary (30), O’Leary for McCabe (50).
Referee: David O’Leary (Rathnure).