Driving finish seals first win
Monageer get off the mark
M’GEER-B’VOGUE BLACKWATER 1-12 1-10 FOUR POINTS in a row to end the contest, the best run by either side all evening, was enough to see Monageer-Boolavogue over the finish line in The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship Group B at Bellefield on Saturday.
Trailing by 1-10 to 1-8 in the final quarter, the Enniscorthy District club cut the deficit when Pádraig Flynn converted a ‘65, and levelled through Niall O’Reilly with seven minutes remaining. Then, Stephen Murphy, often the talisman for Monageer-Boolavogue, first caught fire, and then got injured.
He plucked Seán Murphy’s puck-out from the sky and flighted over to give his side their first lead in the 56th minute. Then, moments after turning an ankle, he launched a rain-maker that split the posts to wrap up victory, his last action before hobbling off.
For Blackwater it’s getting late early. They have no win on the board from three matches and with fixtures against high-flying Crossabeg-Ballymurn and Oylegate-Glenbrien to come, their fight to avoid a relegation final is going to be an uphill one.
They were certainly hampered by the loss of Diarmuid Murphy to injury, robbing them of a natural forward in Lar Lacey. But they competed well in the opening half, eventually taking a 0-7 to 0-6 lead in at the interval on the back of four Mick Lillis scores, a brace from Shane O’Leary and a Dean Whelan point.
The sides had been level four times in the opening period and were again when Tommy Breen made it 0-7 each. However, when Dillon Dixon hared away and netted after a Darren Byrne minor, it seemed like Blackwater had opened a potentially decisive lead in a tight game.
Maybe it could have been, had they been able to hold on to that advantage longer than a minute. When Brian O’Loughlin’s ball broke to Mark Gahan on the edge of the ’20, he had one thing in his mind, to drill low to Robert O’Leary’s net.
Substitute Peter Mernagh tied the game again, only for Lillis and Whelan to put Blackwater 1-10 to 1-8 ahead. However, Monageer-Boolavogue finished powerfully to give themselves hope of a quarter-final place with fixtures against Craanford and Crossabeg-Ballymurn still to come.
Monageer-Boolavogue: Seán Murphy; Mick Sweeney, Chris Daly, Liam Gahan; Graham O’Reilly, Tommy Breen (capt., 0-1), Dean Fenlon; Niall O’Reilly (0-1), Laurence Murphy (01); Pádraig Flynn (0-3, 2 frees, 1 ‘65), Damien Fenlon (0-1), Matthew Dunne; Mark Gahan (1-0), Stephen Murphy (0-3), Brian O’Loughlin (0-1). Subs. - Peter Mernagh (0-1) for Damien Fenlon (31), Cathal Walsh for L. Murphy (46), Mark Walsh for Stephen Murphy, inj. (59), Damien Fenlon for O’Loughlin, temp. (60+2-end), Seán McCabe for Damien Fenlon, temp. (60+3-end).
Blackwater: Robert O’Leary; Eanna Carroll, Lar Lacey, Kevin O’Brien; Shane Wright, Darren Byrne (0-1), Anthony Roche; Denis Carroll, Mick Lillis (0-5, 3 frees); Seán Purcell, James Dooley, Dean Whelan (0-2); Dillon Dixon (1-0), Shane O’Leary (0-2, 1 free), Wayne O’Connor. Sub. - Kerrill Sutton for O’Connor (47).
Referee: Dan Crosby (Kilmore).