Brilliant Ballygarrett qualify for Lein

BALLYGARRETT CULLION (WESTMEATH) 4-20 1-13

BALLYGARRETT PRODUCED a sensational performance in TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar, on Saturday to dismiss Cullion and advance to the AIB Leinster Club Junior hurling championship final.

The Gorey District side swarmed all over their hosts from the first whistle, and at no point in the contest did it look like anything other than a comprehensive Ballygarrett victory. They have had some fine performances and victories this season, but nothing more impressive than this.

They look like a side peaking, as they scrambled through a county final, battled past Naomh

Bríd to get to this point, but now they look like potential Leinster champions. They made Cullion look ordinary.

They say the key to beating Cullion is to keep the impressive county hurler Jack Galvin quiet, and it had proved too tough an ask for most in the Westmeath Intermediate championship as he drove his side through the rounds.

It wasn’t beyond Ballygarrett though, as they knuckled down and defended superbly. Right across the full-back line they excelled, and it was a shame that Kevin Regan got in for a 45th-minute major as the visitors deserved a clean sheet.

Having travelled up the night before, Ballygarrett were leaving no stone unturned in search of a Leinster final place. It proved to be an inspired decision because they looked fresh and ready for action from the throw-in and quickly established their dominance.

Tom Sinnott set the tone with the opening score, but everyone was purring. The movement of the front eight was sensational, and it was further exhibited when John Doyle broke away and fed Shane Quinn who flicked off for Killian Doyle to fire past Jack Gillen.

Jack Hobbs almost created a second goal but overshot Quinn in the fourth minute. Brian O’Reilly did pull one back for the hosts but Hobbs responded.

Kevin Regan was probably Cullion’s most consistent threat over the course of 60 minutes, and he pointed to make it 1-2 to 0-2.

Ballygarrett kept the foot down, as Hobbs and Eoin Corcoran pointed before the latter knocked the ball long to Quinn. The powerful full-forward plucked it out of the air, turned his marker, and drilled in his side’s second major.

A couple more Hobbs scores followed as the