Oylegate’s fine start
OYLEGATE-GLENBRIEN got their Pettitt’s Senior hurling championship Group B campaign off to the perfect start with victory over Oulart-The Ballagh in Bellefield on Friday.
The fact that most neutral observers saw the victors as slight favourites coming into the tie says a lot about the fortunes of both sides over the last couple of seasons. Oylegate-Glenbrien’s rise is expected to continue and that brings a different kind of pressure.
In fairness, they dealt with it perfectly well. For three-quarters of this contest they were cruising, they were leading by nine points and most of what they were trying to accomplish was working as drawn up.
However, Oulart-The Ballagh never go with a whimper. They battled relentlessly to get something out of this contest and after firing just one wide in the first 25 minutes of the second-half, critically they missed the target on three occasions in the remaining time when everything they struck needed to come off.
Oylegate-Glenbrien were bristling with confidence as they opened the game on the front foot. They kept Seamus Casey and Podge Doran inside, foraging away, and they were winning their individual battles in those early stages.
Doran saw an early shot blocked but he was on the scoreboard as his side moved 0-3 to nil ahead. Oulart-The Ballagh pulled back points through Peter Sutton and Shaun Murphy, but the opening goal arrived at the other end in the eighth minute.
Again Doran was heavily involved, latching on to the ball inside and drilling a shot that Conor O’Leary did well to save. Yet, there was no stopping the rebound from Jamie Reck as Oylegate-Glenbrien catapulted clear.
A last-gasp block put off Tomás Dunne as he was shooting a short time later, while Reck hit the target again in the 15th minute but O’Leary made the stop.
At that stage Oylegate-Glenbrien led by 1-5 to 0-3 and for the remainder of the half their advantage fluctuated between five and seven as Casey brought his tally to seven with a late line ball.
Oylegate-Glenbrien led by 1-11 to 0-8 at the interval but things changed in the second-half. They weren’t as consistently dynamic in the full-forward line when Eoin Moore went in to mark Doran after Paul Roche succumbed to injury.
Oulart-The Ballagh pulled within two when Garrett Sinnott forced his pulled shot past John Foley from 20 metres out.
Their opponents did respond when Casey tucked home from Jamie Reck’s handpass, and when Ciarán Hourihane pointed the advantage was 2-16 to 1-10.
From a position where Oylegate-Glenbrien were doing damage through their half-forward line, things started to tighten up and Oulart-The Ballagh began to win the majority of the contested ball.
When Martin Og Storey pointed his side were on a run of four consecutive minors, but they were reduced to 14 men immediately after when Rory Jacob caught Damien Reck in the head with a flailing hurl.
Still, they pulled within three by the 58th minute, only for Jim White and Damien Reck to make it 2-19 to 1-17.
In the end they needed every one of those scores as a Billy Dunne point, followed by his 63rd-minute goal, left the minimum between the sides at the full-time whistle.
Oylegate-Glenbrien: John Foley; Fergus Heffernan, Michael Heffernan, Mike Kelly; Ciarán Hourihane (0-1), Damien Reck (0-1), Mark Kavanagh (capt.); Peter Rowley, Shane Reck (0-1); Jamie Reck (1-2), Conor Heffernan (0-2), Conor Nolan; Seamus Casey (1-9, 0-7 frees, 0-1 line ball), Podge Doran (0-1), Jack Reck (0-1). Sub. - Jim White (0-1) for Nolan (43).
Oulart-The Ballagh: Conor O’Leary; Anthony Roche, Paul Roche, Barry Kehoe; Eoin Moore (capt.), Shaun Murphy (0-1), Nicholas Cullen; Billy Dunne (1-4, 0-4 frees), Kevin Sheridan (0-1); Peter Sutton (0-2), Garrett Sinnott (1-1), Des Mythen (0-3); Martin Og Storey (0-1), Rory Jacob (0-3), Tomás Dunne (0-1). Subs. - Cathal Kenny for P. Roche, inj. (30), Peter Murphy (0-1) for Storey (56).
Referee: Brian O’Leary (Crossabeg-Ballymurn).