Rees in regal form
Rosslare have ten points to spare
ST. MARY’S (R’LARE) 2-16 MONAGEER-B’VOGUE 1-9
WHILE THEY had ten points to spare at the finish, the skills of attacker Rees Broaders inspired St. Mary’s (Rosslare) to an impressive victory over Monageer-Boolavogue in this Permanent TSB Junior hurling championship Group B game in Hollymount on Saturday.
Both sides had already qualified for the quarter-final stages, with St. Mary’s finishing second in their group on scoring difference, while Monageer-Boolavogue took the fourth and final spot.
In truth it looked on this display as if St. Mary’s will make a serious impact on the knockout stages as they played all the quality hurling and, with a couple of key players to return from injury, they served early notice for their quarter-final opponents, Buffers Alley.
This was in stark contrast to their opponents who, despite enjoying lots of possession, failed miserably in front of goal, as they hit some dreadful wides through poor accuracy and hopeful longrange attempts.
St. Mary’s opened the game with real intent as they built some promising early attacks.
Robert Butler stormed through the defence for the two opening points, which were followed by points from Ultan Quirke and Larry Morrissey to lead by 0-4 to nil after twelve minutes.
A ten-minute barren spell followed before a Peter Mernagh pointed free on 22 minutes, but then came the best score of the game five minutes before the break.
Excellent play from Tiarnan Rossiter in midfield saw him pick out Paul Kinsella with a delightful crossfield ball.
The wing-forward accepted the pass and stormed through before unleashing an unstoppable shot to the net, a score that helped his side to a 1-5 to 0-3 interval lead.
The opening ten minutes of the second-half belonged to Broaders as he shot over four excellent points, and by the end of the third quarter his side had moved into a 1-11 to 0-5 lead.
They really killed off the game when Ultan Quirke found the net from an acute angle to give his side a 2-13 to 0-6 lead to take into the closing five minutes.
A Colm O’Loughlin goal proved just a consolation effort in the end for the losers who will be up against it versus Rapparees.
St. Mary’s (Rosslare): Michael Ferguson; Emmet Byrne, Conor Cafferkey, Conal Grant; Larry Morrissey (0-2, 1 free), David Murphy, Ned Power; Tiarnan Rossiter (0-1), Gearóid Byrne; Paul Kinsella (1-2), Robert Butler (0-4), Rees Broaders (0-6); Shea Boggan, Ultan Quirke (1-1), Andrew Murphy. Subs. - Barry Quirke for Quirke, Richard Bent for Broaders, Philip Lambert for Grant, Derek Brohan for A. Murphy, Seán Finan for Boggan.
Monageer-Boolavogue: Niall Finn; Seán O’Leary, Tomás O’Leary, Ray O’Brien; Arran Breslin, Paddy Bren, Lee McHale; Shane Kehoe, Ger Daly; Mark Walsh, Peter Mernagh (0-4, 3 frees, 1 ‘65), Dean Fenlon; James Gahan (0-1), Colm O’Loughlin (12), James Sweeney. Subs. - Niall O’Loughlin (0-2) for Sweeney, Ciarán Rochford for McHale.
Referee: Stephen Burke (Volunteers).