Plain sailing for Ballymurn
Poor show from Adamstown
C’BEG-BALLYMURN ADAMSTOWN 2-19 0-6
CROSSABEG-BALLYMURN produced a statement victory over Adamstown in St. Patrick’s Park on Saturday in Group B of The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship.
Both sides won their first round-robin game and form in previous seasons, including a memorable quarter-final clash in 2015, suggested that this one would be a fierce battle right to the death too.
It was far from it, as this wasn’t close at all. Crossabeg-Ballymurn came out of the blocks with a good intensity, maintained it throughout, and prevailed like potential champions. Every aspect of their game was superior and that’s pretty damning on Adamstown.
Cloughbawn will rightly be favourites for this title but this Crossabeg-Ballymurn team truly have the talent to upset the applecart. They had just twelve scores to 18 wides in their league semi-final defeat to HWH-Bunclody, but they showed marked improvement in this game (21/15).
On the other hand, this was horrific for Adamstown. They managed just six Tony French frees, didn’t score from play, and rarely looked like doing so. They were just completely dominated and it will be hard for management to lift this group going forward.
Four Pádraig Foley points had his side 0-5 to 0-1 up after twelve minutes. Crossabeg-Ballymurn started to pull away when Eoghan Kehoe beat two men in midfield, forced the ball in to Barry Murphy, and the experienced forward raced away and kicked high to the net.
Niall Murphy was back to his best and he notched three points towards the end of the first-half to give the Wexford District club a 1-9 to 0-5 interval lead. After scoring three from six long-range frees in the first-half, Foley added another after the re-start.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn pushed on against the light breeze, with Niall and Tony Murphy, Oisín Foley and Kehoe all registering points before Foley’s long-range effort slipped past Paul Cooper and into the Adamstown net.
Niall Murphy finished the game with three more scores in a row as his side closed out an impressive performance in style.
Finally, the official score will show 2-20 to 0-6, and this came about after referee Justin Heffernan changed his own notebook after consultation with his umpire on full-time (he had correctly scored the game 2-19 to 0-6).
It was a bizarre road to go down, given that both he, and this reporter, had identical outcomes, and it could prove controversial if score difference comes into play later in the season.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn: Mark Dempsey (capt.); Seamus Carroll, Bill Eviston, Alan Byrne; Pádraig Foley (0-5, 4 frees), Paddy Devereux, Conor Devereux; Declan Byrne, Niall Murphy (0-8, 6 frees); Ronan Devereux, Eoghan Kehoe (0-1), Shane O’Rourke; David Jackman, Barry Murphy (1-1), Oisín Foley (1-2). Subs. - Sam Kelly for D. Byrne, inj. (38), Tony Murphy (0-2) for B. Murphy (43).
Adamstown: Paul Cooper; John Whelan, Colm Boland, Johnny Connors; Lorcan French, P.J. Carroll, Shane O’Gorman; Michael Furlong, Tomás Harrington; Harry Cosgrave, Tony French (0-6 frees), John French (capt.); James Delaney, Seán Barden, Seánie O’Neill. Subs. - Liam Stafford for Boland (31), Jonathan Moore for Delaney (35), Tomás French for Stafford, inj. (47).
Referee: Justin Heffernan (Blackwater).