Rapps remain without a loss
Bannow-Ballymitty pipped
RAPPAREES BANNOW-B’MITTY 1-11 2-6 RAPPAREES HELD off a late surge from Bannow-Ballymitty to make it three wins out of three in Group A of the Junior hurling championship in Killurin on Friday.
The New Ross District side were left to rue a number of scoring chances that went a begging as a more economical Enniscorthy town side held them at bay.
The Rapps got off to a bright start and built up a 1-3 to no score advantage by the tenth minute, with the accurate Barry Nolan picking off the first two points from play.
Full-forward John Ryan added 1-1 in the space of 60 seconds, with his goal coming when he reacted quickest to drive a ground stroke to the back of the net.
Micheál Murphy opened the Bannow-Ballymitty account on 16 minutes when his shot creeped over the bar, but a brace of frees from Barry Nolan gave Rapparess a 1-5 to 0-1 advantage five minutes before the break.
Bannow-Ballymitty tacked on the last two points of the half, through Mark Wallace and Pat Fitzharris, to leave themselves just five points adrift as the interval whistle sounded.
The south county outfit would have been hoping for a positive start to the second-half, but it was Rapparees that extended their advantage, with Barry Nolan slotting over a free and Lee Murphy arrowing over a good score from an acute angle, before two points from Pat Fitzharris wiped out those efforts.
Points from Seánie O’Gorman and Barry Nolan (free) had Rapparees seven to the good once more, but an Art Sweetman point and a goal from Pat Fitzharris put Bannow-Ballymitty right back in the mix.
The midfielder got the green flag waving when he struck a low shot through a crowd of bodies past goalkeeper Jim Connors; Bannow-Ballymitty trailed by just a goal (1-9 to 1-6) and their tails were up.
A Barry Nolan free gave Rapps a bit of breathing space but they were then dealt a double blow in the space of a minute. First Lee Murphy was shown a red card and within seconds David Currid got a touch on a Fitzharris delivery to steer it to the net and leave just a point between the sides.
Barry Nolan floated over his sixth free as the game ticked into injury time and, although Rapparees were reduced to 13 men when Aaron Ronan was dismissed, time ran out on the Bannow-Ballymitty fightback.
Rapparees: Jim Connors; Joe Carley, Pa Doyle, John Barron; Mark Redmond, Cathal Murphy, Ciarán Cronin; Anthony Roche, Seánie O’Gorman (0-1); Anthony Peare, Barry Nolan (0-8, 6 frees), Lee Murphy (0-1); Gary Murphy, John Ryan (1-1), Aaron Ronan. Subs. - Caolan Carty for Peare, Dale Galway for Carley.
Bannow-Ballymitty: John Sinnott; John Mernagh, Paudge Barden, Conor Furlong; Mark Wallace (0-1), Niall Murphy, John O’Leary; Pat Fitzharris (1-3, 0-1 free), Nicky Doyle; Kevin Doyle, Art Sweetman (0-1), Gary Morton; Pádraig McCormack, David Currid (1-0), Micheál Murphy (0-1). Subs. - Richie Walsh for McCormack, Adam Diskin for Fitzharris.
Referee: George Dee (Taghmon-Camross).