Craanford crowned
Fine scoring haul sees off Shamrocks
CRAANFORD WERE crowned the Greenstar Under-20 hurling Roinn 1B champions after an impressive 5-15 to 1-12 victory over Shamrocks in Saturday’s rather one-sided county final played at a showery Bree.
The Gorey District side got off to an ideal start when the ball broke through to Aodhán Whitty and he bounced it to the net underneath the legs of Shmarocks goalkeeper Anthony Giltrap after less than 30 seconds on the clock.
And that early green flag gave them the cushion to ping the ball around with confidence, with Eamonn Doran in particular thriving in the open ground, finishing with a very impressive tally of 3-10, although he was helped by the solid defending of Eoin Doyle and confident ball-winning of Joseph Conroy.
The accurate Anthony Murphy responded with Shamrocks’ opener inside 90 seconds, only for Eoin Doyle to loft over Craanford’s first point after annexing possession from a puck-out.
Doran added a free before midfielder Aaron Wallace split the posts impressively for the eventual losers after some good groundwork from Philip O’Brien.
Some neat improvisation from Joseph Conroy to keep the ball in play along the sideline led to Stuart Byrne finding the range.
Doran followed with two more frees, and two quickfire Joseph Conroy points from close to the opposite sideline stretched the gap to 1-7 to 0-3 at the midway point of the first-half.
And Craanford really enhanced their advantage on 20 minutes when Doran stood over a free from roughly 30 metres out and found the corner of the net with a sweet strike.
Opposing placed-ball taker Philip O’Brien responded with two frees for the Vinegar Hill lads, but a neat score on the run from Doran preceded the same player absorbing a high challenge to swipe stylishly across Anthony Giltrap for a fine goal to create a 3-9 to 0-6 advantage at half-time.
Doran tagged on a free three minutes into the new half, while Whitty broke through to chip over another from play as the leaders continued to prosper.
To their eternal credit, Shamrocks made a real fight of it when they reeled off 1-3 without reply to pull to within 3-13 to 1-10 entering the final quarter.
Their mini procession began when centre-back John Murphy arrowed a free direct to the corner of the net. Anthony Murphy followed with a point almost immediately, O’Brien supplied a free, while Anthony Murphy’s fourth point from play had the Enniscorthy District lads believing.
Doran (free) and Murphy traded points before Craanford struck for two goals inside a minute to kill off the game.
Firstly, Whitty caught Eoin Doyle’s pass before being hacked down in the square for a penalty which Doran comfortably tucked away to complete his hat-trick.
And when the follow-up puckout went awry, Whitty eventually goaled from close range to seal a very impressive win as Craanford joined near neighbours Askamore in the winners’ enclosure for this grade.
Incidentally, despite it being a county final, there was no programme available for spectators which made a mockery of the status of the game.
Craanford: Luke Byrne; Jack Keogh, Páraic Redmond, Harry Molloy; Stephen Greene, Jim Kenny (capt.), Patrick Kavanagh; Eoin Doyle (0-1), Pat Doyle; Stuart Byrne (0-1), Joseph Conroy (0-2), Cormac Doyle; Aodhán Whitty (2-1), Aidan Kavanagh, Eamonn Doran (3-10, 1-9 frees, 1-0 pen.). Sub. - Pádraig Whitty for Conroy (37)
Shamrocks: Anthony Giltrap; Oisín Murphy, Sam O’Brien, Darragh Kirwan; Evan Murphy (capt.), John Murphy (1-0 free), Kian Cowman; Aaron Wallace (0-2), Floyd Murphy; Philip O’Brien (0-4, 3 frees), Anthony Murphy (0-6, 5 frees), Terry O’Connor; Conor Murphy, Ben Doyle, Jordan O’Brien. Sub. - Dean Levingstone for C. Murphy (HT).
Referee: Martin Quigley (Rathnure).