Ramsgrange rule the roost
Perfect season ends as Ballygarrett outpointed in final
ST. JAMES’ BALLYGARRETT
ST. JAMES’ put the perfect seal on a superb unbeaten season when they pointed their way past a spirited Ballygarrett side in the Enniscorthy Guardian Juvenile hurling Roinn 2 championship final in St. Patrick’s Park.
The Ramsgrange side impressed at both ends of the field. In defence, they gave up very few chances in front of the solid Alfie Eite. Further up the field they got scores from six different players, which is pretty impressive at this level.
It’s somewhat remarkable that these sides were able to come together in this title decider. In the days of combination teams, these clubs deserve massive credit for getting all the way to the county final with a panel of just 18 players each.
To juggle resources to make sure you always have 15 players each week is impressive enough, but for both these teams to do that and keep the winning feeling all the way into October shows great commitment from the players and management.
This contest started off in exciting fashion, with Charlie Freegrove and Aaron Hall countering a brace of points from the excellent Ben McPhillips.
However, St. James’ started to build a lead as Colum Fitzgerald flashed over from a tight angle and McPhillips added a pair of dead-balls.
Martin O’Loughlin went as close as anyone to rattling the net when he flashed across the face of goal in the 13th minute. At the other end, McPhillips had one disallowed for a square-ball, after flicking in Daniel Behan’s long delivery forward.
Richard Conroy whizzed over a classy point early in the second quarter but St. James’ continued to find scores easier to come by. Sam Wallace, McPhillips, Keelan Foley and Owen Whitty were all on target as they moved 0-9 to 0-4 ahead at the interval.
Ballygarrett had a strong spell early in the second-half but managed just a couple of points from Joseph Burke and Aaron Hall. St. James’ weathered that storm and began to assert themselves as the game moved into the final quarter.
Captain Tommy Barron clipped over a nice score and McPhillips continued to make his share of dead-balls to move the champs double scores ahead entering added time.
To their credit, Ballygarrett battled right to the end, with Hall seeing a low free tipped over by Whitty, but it wasn’t enough to deny their opponents.
St. James’: Alfie Eite; James Nolan, Paudie Barron, Darragh McPhillips; Mark Whitty, Rory Lynch, Josh White-Keating; Owen Whitty (01), Daniel Behan; Sam Wallace (0-2), Seán O’Grady, Tommy Barron (capt., 0-1); Ben McPhillips (0-8, 6 frees), Keelan Foley (0-1), Colum Fitzgerald (0-1). Subs. - Shane Dunne for D. McPhillips (60+1), also Joe McPhillips, Jack Nolan.
Ballygarrett: Jamie Doyle; James Lawless, Seán Neary, Joe Woods; Richard Conway (01), Aaron Earle, Farrell Doyle; Kyle Moore-Kavanagh (0-1), Aaron Hall (capt., 0-4, 3 frees); Pádhraic Neary, Joseph Burke (0-1), Cian Herbage; Eoin Canavan, Martin O’Loughlin, Charlie Freegrove (0-1). Subs. - J.J. Tomkins for Canavan (59), Martin McCarthy for Herbage (60), Jack Redmond for P. Neary (60+4).
Referee: Martin Quigley (Rathnure).