Gorey hold Rapps
Enniscorthy side’s slow start fatal
NAOMH EANNA RAPPAREES 1-14 2-10
LACK OF attacking ambition through the first-half came back to haunt the Rapparees as Naomh Eanna made a successful raid and eventually emerged with a onepoint victory in this hard-fought Pettitt’s Senior hurling championship Group B game in Innovate Wexford Park on Sunday.
Rapparees’ failure can very much be attributed to their inability to register a score from play through the opening 30 minutes.
In fact, they had to wait until the 38th minute for their first score from open play through defender Jack Kelly whose 80-metre effort found the target, a score that inspired a strong fightback.
The opening quarter produced some dreadful hurling, as the conditions deteriorated with heavy showers, and it seemed to work against both sides as they struggled to leave any semblance of authority on proceedings.
After an opening minute Pádraig Doyle free gave Naomh Eanna the lead when wind assisted, they were rocked right back on their heels two minutes later when Tomás Mahon goaled from a penalty.
Two Doyle frees had the sides level (0-3 to 1-0) at the end of the opening quarter as the respective sets of forwards struggled for scores from play, with all of the scores through this period coming from placed balls.
After Doyle and Mahon had exchanged pointed frees, Naomh Eanna managed to finish the half strongest through points from Darragh Hughes, two Doyle frees and David O’Brien to lead by 0-8 to 1-1 at the interval.
The only real first-half excitement was a flashpoint in front of the stand when a number of players became embroiled in an incident that led to two Naomh Eanna players being yellow carded.
Naomh Eanna stepped up their workrate on the resumption. Pádraig Doyle won possession out on the wing and sent in a high delivery that was plucked from the air by Conor McDonald who found the corner of the net with a low shot, and when Darragh Hughes pointed a long-range free, the Gorey side now led by 1-9 to 1-1 after 35 minutes.
Without seeming to have to work too hard for it, Jack Kelly sent over a huge point, which ignited the Rapps challenge.
And after 38 minutes, Darragh Pepper following a good run beat ’keeper Barry Kinsella with a low shot at his near post to lift the Enniscorthy side’s challenge, as they now had reduced the deficit to four points (1-9 to 2-2).
Darragh Hughes (free) and Conor Hughes responded with points, while Tomás Mahon managed a Rapps point in between.
With Ryan Mahon, Tomás Mahon (free) and substitute Anthony Roche all pointing, the Rapps had hauled themselves back into contention, now trailing by 1-12 to 2-6 with seven minutes remaining.
They managed to reduced the lead further one minute later with a Tomás Mahon point from play, but with the sides continuing to trade points Naomh Eanna were clinging to a 1-14 to 2-9 lead as the game moved towards additional time.
A Tomás Mahon pointed free left the minimum separating the sides, but Naomh Eanna managed to withstand the late Rapps surge to secure two crucial points, leaving the Enniscorthy side firmly rooted at the foot of the table point-less.
Naomh Eanna: Barry Kinsella; Peter Travers, Brendan Travers, Eoin Molloy; Seán Doyle, Lee Kinsella, Gary Molloy; Aodhán Doyle (0-1), Eoin Conroy; Darragh Hughes (0-3, 2 frees), Pádraig Doyle (0-7 frees), Conor Hughes (0-1); Gearóid Cullen (0-1), Conor McDonald (1-0), David O’Brien (0-1). Sub. - Jack Cullen for O’Brien.
Rapparees: Eamonn Furlong; Mel Doyle, Liam Ryan, Dillon Redmond; Jack Kelly (0-1), Ricky Fox, James Peare; Ben Edwards, Tomás Mahon (1-6, 1-5 frees); Richie Farrell, Nick Doyle, Kevin Ryan; Ryan Mahon (0-1 free), Kevin Foley, Darragh Pepper (1-1). Sub. - Anthony Roche (0-1) for K. Ryan.
Referee: Anthony Tobin (Geraldine O’Hanrahans). CROSSABEG-BALLYMURN had ten points to spare over home side HWH-Bunclody in the quarter-final of the newly-devised Greenstar Under-21 hurling Premier ‘B’ championship in Bunclody on Tuesday.
The eventual victors enjoyed the brighter start as clever efforts from Robert Byrne, Ronan Devereux and Oisín Foley heralded a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after seven minutes.
But the locals fought back into contention when a dropping free from Eoin Kelly fell into the path of Darren Murphy. The wing-forward first-timed to the net for a 1-2 to 0-3 lead after ten minutes, and Murphy also tagged on a point to increase the cushion to three points.
However, when Sam Kelly sped clear to stitch a brilliant goal on 17 minutes, the advantage swung back in Crossabeg-Ballymurn’s favour, and things got even better for them a minute later.
HWH-Bunclody netminder Jamie Farrell got caught in no man’s land, and Ronan Devereux was left with the simplest of tasks to finish to the empty net for a 2-4 to 1-3 transformation.
Luke Redmond also goaled for the leaders despite the best prevention efforts of the HWH-Bunclody rearguard as the gap grew to 3-5 to 1-6 at the interval.
HWH-Bunclody’s penultimate score from play arrived courtesy of wing-back Conor Thorpe three minutes into the new half, while two of the three placed balls converted by Crossabeg-Ballymurn across the entire game came from the stick of Foley in the third quarter, by which stage they led by 3-12 to 1-10.
Meanwhile, the latter powered through to slap home their fourth goal eight minutes from time to complete an impressive double-digit 4-15 to 1-14 victory for the Over The Water lads on a night when the industrious Ronan Devereux was the king of all he surveyed.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn: Noel Scallan; Eoin O’Connor, Paul Larissy, Stephen Dempsey; Conor Barlow (0-1), David Kehoe, Robert Byrne (0-2); Paddy Devereux (0-1), Ronan Devereux (1-2); James White (0-1), Sam Kelly (capt., 1-2), Luke Redmond (1-0); Lorcan Lacey, Oisín Foley (1-5, 0-3 frees), Evan Kinlough. Subs. - Alex Sludds (0-1) for Lacey, Lorcan Cummins for Dempsey, Tony Laffan for White.
HWH-Bunclody: Jamie Farrell (capt.); Diarmuid Crean, Josh Martin, James Kavanagh; Conor Thorpe (0-1), John Dunne, Paddy Dunbar; Eoin Kelly (0-10, 8 frees, 2 ‘65s), Martin O’Connor; Darren Murphy (1-1), Brendan Kavanagh, Cathal Doyle (0-1); Mark O’Connor, Edward Dunbar (0-1), Tadhg O Ceallaigh.
Referee: John O’Loughlin (Monageer Boolavogue).