WOODIES ON HIGH
Spot sealed in Juvenile football final
HORESWOOD 4-11 ST. MARY’S (M’TOWN) 1-8
CLASSY HORESWOOD booked their spot in the Gorey Guardian Juvenile football Roinn 1 championship final with a clinical performance against St. Mary’s (Maudlintown) in Clongeen on Saturday.
The New Ross District side were impressive throughout, never allowing their opponents to get up that trademark head of steam that so often accounts for less confident teams when the going gets tough late on.
St. Mary’s can rack up a score when firing on all cylinders but Horeswood negated their attacking prowess with quality defending.
The most impressive aspect of the back six was their reading of the game and anticipation of passes.
Countless times St. Mary’s looked to feed little balls in and around defenders but invariably another Horeswood player nipped in, almost from nowhere, to nab the ball back and start another devastating counter-attack.
At the other end of the field five of the starting forwards contributed with scores and the man that didn’t, Danny Nolan, was as impressive as anyone in their buildup and quick kick-pass attacks.
Points from Lee Nolan and Daniel Pender eased the boys from the Rocks into an early advantage.
However, a brave Neil Ennis punched Joe O’Sullivan’s ball into the edge of the square to the net for the game’s opening goal in the twelfth minute.
After Matthew Foley and O’Sullivan flighted over, St. Mary’s had a little purple patch and pulled within two after quick-fire scores from John Hore, T.J. Nolan and Aaron Roche.
Yet it was Horeswood who finished the half in the ascendancy after the speedy Jim Wallace raced away to goal and Cathal Mernagh also added a pair of points (2-6 to 0-6).
Hore fired just wide after the resumption when a goal would have got his side right back into the reckoning.
The narrow miss hurt even more when Ennis poked home his second goal from close range in the 36th minute.
Jack Kehoe’s confident, low finish made it 4-6 to 0-7 as the third quarter ended.
Realistically there was no way back for Maudlintown but they kept chipping away and Jordan Donovan’s late goal gave them some semblance of consolation.
Horeswood, who lost a competitive hurling quarter-final to Rath- nure, will now face HWH-Bunclody in the Roinn 1 title decider in the coming weeks.
Horeswood: Ryan Rowe; Kevin Wall, Jason Murphy, Dean Roberts; Jim Wallace (1-0), Nigel Dunne-Sheriff, Seán Hunt; Robbie Delaney (0-1), Barry Walsh-Howlin; Danny Nolan, Jack Kehoe (1-3, 0-2 frees), Cathal Mernagh (0-3); Matthew Foley (0-1), Joe O’Sullivan (0-2), Neil Ennis (2-1). Subs. - Alex Molloy for Wall (50), John Chapman for Hunt (53), Alex Molloy for Delaney (56), also Dermot Clancy.
St. Mary’s (Maudlintown): Byron Sweeney; Gavin Roche, Josh Long, Adam O’Connor; Emmet Nolan, Luke O’Rourke, Kyle Scallan; Jordan Donovan (1-0), Lee Nolan (0-1); James Cullen, Daniel Pender (0-4 frees), John Hore (0-1); Aaron Roche (0-1), Cian Connolly, T.J. Nolan (0-1). Subs. - Jack Kehoe for T.J. Nolan, inj. (36), Nicky Furlong for Cullen (44), Dylan O’Connor for Connolly (53), also Daniel Bent.
Referee: Henry Sinnott (Bannow-Ballymitty).