Horeswood on top
District title sealed with five-goal haul
FIVE GOALS secured the Greenstar Under-20 football New Ross District Roinn 1 championship title for Horeswood as they had an easier than anticipated victory over Munna Abbáin in Cushinstown on Saturday.
The victors always looked the more complete side and, with the aid of a stiff breeze in the opening half, they knocked the life out of their shell-shocked opponents with 3-1 in an eleven-minute period.
The eventual winners were looking good up to this juncture after having a huge majority of possession, but they just hadn’t managed to reflect this on the board.
But after hard work from John Chapman forced a defensive error, he duly hit his side’s first major ten minutes in and from here on,
Horeswood never looked back.
Impressive midfielder Seán Nolan soon added another after a superbly-worked move starting from a short kick-out.
Jason Murphy came close to nabbing their third moments later, only to be kept out by a fine Adrian Doyle save, but the former soon set up Joe O’Sullivan whose effort put nine points between the sides.
Munna Abbáin kept fighting however, and Shane Lacey did extremely well to pull a goal back before an exchange of points between Jamie Myler and Colum Feeney left nine between the sides at the break.
Playing with the wind in the second period, Munna Abbáin still had a fighting chance, but a good start after the resumption was still needed.
Unfortunately for them, it was the leaders who drew first blood with Dylan Whitty hitting a fourth goal which really killed all hopes of a comeback.
And a fifth soon followed when Darragh Kent crept inside midway through the half.
It was really just a matter of playing out the allotted time at this stage, and four unanswered points from Munna Abbáin substitute, Rúairí O’Brien, put a minor dent in an otherwise impressive Horeswood display.
Horeswood: Aaron Mythen; Alex Molloy, Eamonn O’Sullivan, Jason Murphy (0-1); Seán Hunt, Jack Kehoe (0-1), David Murphy (capt.); Seán Nolan (1-2), Barry Walsh-Howlin; Dylan Whitty (1-0), Joe O’Sullivan (1-0), Darragh Kent (1-1); John Chapman (1-0), Jamie Myler (0-2), Matthew Foley. Subs. - Cathal Mernagh for Chapman (44), Danny Nolan for Foley (44), Ian Roberts for Kent (48), Martin Kinsella for Molloy (54), Neil Ennis for O’Sullivan (54).
Munna Abbáin: Adrian Doyle; Ciarán English, Tom Banville, James Dunleavy; Ryan Banville, Mick Dunleavy, Shane Lacey (1-0); Colum Feeney (0-1), Peter Murphy; Adam Sinnott, John Banville, Graham O’Reilly; Páraic Wickham, Cathal Doyle (0-1), Cormac McGrath. Subs. - Darragh Winters for J. Banville (HT), Rúairí O’Brien (0-4, 3 frees) for M. Dunleavy (40), David Kelly for J. Dunleavy (40), Ryan Cashin for O’Reilly (44), James Dillon for Wickham (45).
Referee: Jack Stafford (Clongeen).