Spirited Coláiste Treasa comeback falters in closing stages
victory, finishing strongly with a 1-2 tally without reply deciding the outcome. Bravery wasn’t enough for a 14 man Coláiste Treasa during the second half and though erasing a four points deficit to tie up the contest, all their hard work ended in frustration on the concession of a goal in the 55th minute by Augustines midfielder Ciaran Keating.
For much of the first half, the exchanges were keen, the sides locked together on five occasions during the opening 20mins., Dungarvan points by team captain Neil Montgomery matched by Treasa’s Tomás Howard and Evan Murphy.
But as the game aged, Dungarvan’s hurling became sharper and possessed more of a cutting edge, driven on by John Devine, Darragh McGrath, Tom Looby and Montgomery to enjoy a 0-9 to 0-6 grip at the break.
The sides traded points to Montgomery and Aidan Browne upon the restart but Kanturk’s cause wasn’t helped on a second yellow card picked up by Ryan Walsh. And though falling further into arrears, Coláiste Treasa mounted a spirited revival thanks to the introduction of substitutes in addition to the grafting play of Conor O’Callaghan, Dan O’Donoughue, Browne and Cian Crowley.
O’Callaghan pointed superbly from placed balls as did Howard and ‘keeper Barry Kenneally to force a deadlocked situation with eight minutes remaining.
However St. Augustines refused to be ruffled, captain Montgomery regained the lead with a point. And in a tight game, a goal was going to be of paramount importance, it surfaced from a miss hit Coláiste Treasa sideline in an attacking position, the ball picked up by Augustines Cathal Curran whose long clearance up-field was picked up Looby whose effort was stopped superbly by Kanturk custodian Kenneally but from the breaking ball, Keating smashed the rebound to the net to confirm the destination of the spoils.
To their credit, Treasa never stopped trying to mount a rescue but try as they did, they failed a breach the barriers of a resilient and outstanding St. Augustines rearguard.