Gaels through to knock-out stages

Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels 1-15 Ballyclough 0-9

LISCARROLL/CHURCHTOWN Gaels are safely through to the knock-out stages Hibernian Hotel JAHC when they defeated Ballyclough at Doneraile.

The opening stages saw Ballyclough start at a blistering pace with Damian Buckley most impressive in the full forward line as they raced into a 0-3 to no score lead by the sixth minute. Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels who struck a number of wides during the entire first half quickly settled.

Thomas Fitzgibbon (2) and Kieran Curtin with frees had them back on level terms at 0-3 each. Ballyclough hit the front again with a good delivery by Timmy Murphy resulting in a fine point by Damian Buckley with the latter following with a pointed free in the 22nd minute to move 0-5 to 0-3 clear.

For the rest of the half Liscarroll/ Churchtown Gaels finished in the flurry with Mark Fitzpatrick and Evan Coleman doing very well at midfield. The winners forced Ballyclough to concede a number of frees that were expertly punished by Thomas Fitzgibbon while John Breen also added a point from play that helped them hold a 0-7 to 0-5 interval lead.

On the changeover both teams were very much off target in the early sequences. Kieran Curtin with a pointed free in the 38th minute opened up a three point lead.

Ballyclough introduced substitute Mark Heffernan who made an immediate impact when reeling off two points in quick succession to reduce the margin to 0-8 to 0-7 as the game entered the last quarter.

However, they accounted for just two more points before the final whistle whereas the Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels challenge quickly gained momentum with Tim Egan, Mark Fitzpatrick, Evan Coleman, Shane Coleman, Thomas Fitzgibbon, Kieran Curtin and impressive second half substitute Daniel Curtin making their presence felt.

Kieran Curtin scored the games only goal in the 47th minute and they never looked back from here with Daniel Curtin (4) Kieran Curtin (2) and Sean Murphy having points that set them on their way to a deserved win.

Scorers LISCARROLL/CHURCHTOWN Gaels : K Curtin 1-4 (0-3f) T Fitzgibbon 0-5f, D Curtin 0-4, J Breen 0-1, S Murphy 0-1

BALLYCLOUGH : D Buckley 0-4 (0-1f) M Heffernan 0-3 (0-2f) T O’Shea 0-1, J Clifford 0-1

LISCARROLL/CHURCHTOWN GAELS: P Morrissey, D O’Brien, J O’Callaghan, P Egan, N O’Callaghan, T Egan, P Cantillon, M Fitzpatrick, E Coleman, S Hedigan, J Breen, S Coleman, T Fitzgibbon, P McMahon, K Curtin Subs: D Curtin for P McMahon, S Murphy for S Hedigan (inj)

BALLYCLOUGH: E O’Connor, J J Noonan, E Crowley, J Aherne, A Finnegan, P O’Flynn, T Healy, T O’Shea, W Fitzgerald, J O’Mahony, N O’Regan, T Murphy, M Buckley, D Buckley, J Clifford Subs: M Heffernan, for E Crowley (inj), J Deady for J Clifford (inj), D O’Sullivan for N O’Regan

REFEREE: Dave Copps (Ballyea)