Fethard outpoint Monageer
FETHARD M’GEER-B’VOGUE
PROMOTED FETHARD overpowered a sluggish Monageer-Boolavogue as they recorded an opening day win in Group A of The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship in the Ferns Centre of Excellence on Saturday.
Realistically the game was up for the losers just ten minutes into the second-half as they trailed by 0-16 to 0-5, but they recovered well enough to ensure the end result wasn’t an embarrassment.
Fethard started quickest through Graham O’Grady and John Tubritt, but Monageer-Boolavogue did manage to pull them back to a one-point game on the 16-minute mark.
Diarmuid Fenlon, Matthew Dunne and Larry Murphy were on target as the Enniscorthy District side appeared to be up for the battle (0-5 to 0-4).
This feeling was shortlived however, and Fethard scored the next five on the trot, three from Mark Wallace and a Ciarán Dwyer brace, giving them a five-point lead at the interval (0-10 to 0-5).
Monageer-Boolavogue really needed a positive start to the second-half and in fact the opposite happened. O’Grady and Dwyer extended the lead to seven within a minute of the re-start, and Fethard finished the game off in the following minutes.
Tubritt, Wallace, O’Grady and Garrett Foley had all scored singles before Monageer-Boolavogue managed their first of the half. Fenlon got them going with two quick frees, and to their credit they found some spirit to finish the game out strong.
Fenlon could have put a small seed of doubt in the Fethard minds when Cathal Walsh was fouled and awarded a penalty, but his effort clipped the top of the crossbar and flew over.
After the penalty, the sides both added three to the scoreboard as the game came to an end. Walsh pointed in between two impressive saves from Fethard netminder Seán Foley.
Fenlon and Walsh finished off Monageer-Boolavogue’s tally whilst Jimmy Sutton, Bryan Power and Darren Foley all got on the scoresheet late on as they completed Fethard’s impressive tally of 19 points and ensured a comfortable win on their return to the Intermediate grade.
Fethard: Seán Foley; Martin Power, Kevin Rowe, Daniel Mullan; Joe Sutton, Daire Barden, Richard Waters (01); Garrett Foley (capt., 0-1), Graham O’Grady (0-4); Edmund Power, Mark Wallace (0-4), Jimmy Sutton (0-1); Ciarán Dwyer (0-3), John Tubritt (0-3), Jesse Foley. Subs. - Bryan Power (0-1) for E. Power (35), Darren Foley (0-1) for J. Foley (49).
Monageer-Boolavogue: Morgan Gahan; Niall O’Reilly, Stephen Murphy, Liam Gahan; Patrick Walsh, Tommy Breen (capt.), Mick Sweeney; Ian Hawkins, Larry Murphy (0-2); Pádraig Flynn, Matthew Dunne (0-1), Diarmuid Fenlon (0-6, 4 frees, 1 pen.); Shane Gahan, Cathal Walsh (0-2), Mark Gahan.
Referee: James Owens (Askamore).