Sinnott slams in vital goals
Oulart overcome Harriers
OULART-BALLAGH FAYTHE HARRIERS 2-14 1-13
TWO THUNDEROUS goals from Garrett Sinnott in the opening five minutes of this Pettitt’s Senior hurling championship Group B game proved to be the difference as Oulart-The Ballagh recorded their first win of the campaign over an imprecise Faythe Harriers in Bellefield on Sunday.
The big full-forward was a complete handful for the Faythe Harriers’ defence all day, and rattled the back of the net with his first two touches of the ball.
Faythe Harriers to their credit gave last year’s county champions a fair run for their money but will feel disappointed not only that they couldn’t find the goal they needed despite several chances, but also that some poor distribution of the ball led to the concession of three scores at a crucial stage of the opening half.
There was an electric opening to the game, with Lee Chin’s early point completely outdone by Sinnott’s first goal after two minutes.
Shane Wilde gave an immediate response by flicking the ball to the net at the other end before Sinnott showed a lot of strength to shake off two defenders and raise a second green flag.
It was a closely-fought battle from here on in as Chin was deadly accurate from placed balls and hit six before the break, trading scores with Jacob, Des Mythen and Nicky Kirwan to leave five points between the sides at the interval.
On the resumption, Chin continued a huge performance as he hit four points without reply.
But a tight Oulart-The Ballagh back line, led by Shaun Murphy and Keith Rossiter, held the Harriers forward line at bay.
And that allowed their own attack to continue to tack on scores through Jacob, Sinnott, Mythen and Kirwan to leave four points between the sides with as many minutes remaining.
The Harriers had two late goal chances, both through Chin who first saw his 20-metre free kept out and then a rasping shot from play that was excellently saved by Conor O’Leary, ensuring Oulart-The Ballagh held on for a well-deserved first win of the campaign.
Oulart-The Ballagh: Conor O’Leary; Anthony Roche, Keith Rossiter, Barry Kehoe; Eoin Moore (0-1), Shaun Murphy, Michael Jacob; David Redmond, Tommy Storey; Des Mythen (0-3), Martin Óg Storey, Peter Murphy; Rory Jacob (0-4, 2 frees, 1 ’65), Garrett Sinnott (2-2), Nicky Kirwan (0-4, 3 free). Subs. - Billy Dunne for P. Murphy, Kevin Sheridan for M. Jacob.
Faythe Harriers: Ian Scallan; Cormac Byrne, David Mooney, Ross Lynch; Brendan Mulligan, Richie Kehoe, Colm Heffernan; Rhys Clarke, Lee Chin (0-12, 10 frees, 1 ’65); John Bridges (0-1), Michael Hanrahan, Alex Lynch; Wayne Mallon, Kevin Gore, Shane Wilde (1-0). Subs. - Pádraigh Farrell for Clarke, Con Ó Donnagáin for Gore, Stephen Kearney for Wilde.
Referee: John Carton (Monageer-Boolavogue).