Cushinstown left singing in the rain
R’GAROGUE-C’TOWN 0-14 GER. O’HANRAHANS 0-7
THE DRIVING rain on their home patch was no major obstacle to Rathgarogue-Cushinstown on Saturday as they bridged a gap of seven years with a double scores victory over Geraldine O’Hanrahans in the Permanent TSB New Ross District Junior ‘B’ hurling championship final.
Supporters of the town team arrived to the venue in high spirits after their Intermediate ‘A’ side had claimed a knockout spot against the odds a few hours earlier, but it was clear from the opening ten minutes that this particular title was going to elude them.
Rathgarogue-Cushinstown had first use of the wind blowing towards the Ballinaboola end, and they raced into a 0-6 to nil lead by the 13th minute with midfielder Peter Aspel leading the way.
He accounted for three points, two from frees, with Paddy Barron and Shane O’Connor (two) also contributing as they were driven on by the strong play and sound positional sense of experienced centre-back Francis O’Brien.
While Geraldines captain Anthony Purcell soloed in from the right and scooped a point to open their account, they went on to trail by 0-11 to 0-3 at the break after John Bolger joined the list of scorers for the leaders before his midfield partner, Peter Aspel, added four more, three from placed balls.
Jimmy Smith (free) and Kyle Grangel had also registered for Ross, while their goalkeeper, Mark Purcell, made one fine reflex save to keep out a Colin Whelan flick from close range.
The visitors couldn’t be ruled out entirely with wind advantage to come, but they fell into further arrears to an early Aspel pointed free on the re-start.
Scores became even more difficult to obtain as the weather continued to deteriorate, and it took 15 minutes before Kyle Grangel grabbed the first Geraldines point of the half (0-12 to 0-4).
They did manage to reduce the gap to six at one stage, after another Peter Aspel point drew responses from substitute Shane Murray and David Crowdle, but James Devereux had the last word when he raised a white flag at the start of added time.
The losers did crash one effort off the woodwork in that spell, but there was no denying the overall superiority of Rathgarogue-Cushinstown whose last District title at this level arrived in 2011.
Under the new system, both sides are still involved in the county championship, with quarter-finals to come against the Gorey District representatives.
A word of praise is due to Thomas Furlong for his very efficient refereeing in difficult weather conditions. A relative newcomer to the whistle, he put his vast experience as a player with Adamstown to sensible use and will hopefully be fast-tracked to taking charge of Senior championship games by the powers-that-be sooner rather than later.
Rathgarogue-Cushinstown: Fionn Slattery; John O’Keeffe, Paul Murphy, Colm Murphy (capt.); Eoghan Whelan, Francis O’Brien, Ian Kennedy; Peter Aspel (0-9, 5 frees, 1 ’65), John Bolger (0-1); Aaron Ryan, James Devereux (0-1), Paddy Barron (0-1); Shane O’Connor (0-2), Mark Carroll, Colin Whelan. Subs. - John James Carroll for O’Connor, inj. (45), James Bolger for Ryan (60), Barry Murphy for C. Whelan (60+4), Ken Slattery for M. Carroll (60+4).
Geraldine O’Hanrahans: Mark Purcell; David Merrigan, Jack Power, Tommy Doran; Ciarán St. Ledger, Ronan Carroll (0-1 free), Jake Byrne; David Purcell, Kyle Grangel (0-2); David Crowdle (0-1), Danielius Niekis, Michael Cullen; Ben Walsh, Anthony Purcell (capt., 0-1), Jimmy Smith (0-1 free). Subs. - Robbie Donovan for Doran (42), Shane Murray (0-1) for Smith (47), Keith Purcell for St. Ledger (55), Neil Hickey for Grangel (56).
Referee: Thomas Furlong (Adamstown).