Productive start lays ground work for Dromtariffe JAHC win over Freemount

Dromtariffe 2-26 Freemount 2-10

DROMTARIFFE carried too much class and scoring power for Freemount in a high scoring E Tarrant and Sons Duhallow Junior A Hurling Championship quarter final at Kilbrin on Sunday.

By the end of the hour, victory belonged to the more accomplished side, hurling with the more confidence and with the greater faith in their patterns of play, Dromtariffe’s performance right up to the end was full of energy and excellent combined play. At times, Freemount gave a good account of themselves yet they lacked the pace and all round sharpness of a competent Dromtariffe outfit.

A good start is half the battle and so it proved, Dromtariffe could scarcely had hoped for a better start, hitting pole position once Conor Cremin netted from close range following good work by Tomás Howard. Indeed, Dromtariffe were shaping up the better of the two sides with Daniel O’Keeffe, Cremin and Seán Howard adding points.

Having struggled to cope with Dromtariffe’s domination, Freemount came more into the picture, boosted by the efforts of Mark Ballentyne, Padraig Curtin and Dean Collins with points to Paidí Collins and Aidan O’Flynn offering encouragement to trail 1-10 to 0-6 at the break.

On the restart, again Dromtariffe looked the better side, showing more composure in their play and crucially more scoring options. Indeed Dromtariffe took a tight hold of the proceedings, driven on by Conor O’Callaghan, Jack Murphy, Tomás Howard, and Evan Murphy.

And their dominance was confirmed on a goal netted by O’Keeffe followed by points by the Howard brothers. Freemount reacted to a precarious situation , a timely Mark Lynes goal offered faint hopes of a recovery.

However Dromtariffe continued to hold sway, Jerry O’Sullivan, Murphy, Cremin and Stephen Ahern adding points to extend their posistion on the scoreboard. At this stage, the contest was very much in damage limitations territory for Freemount yet they continued to perform to gain a consolation goal from Dean Collins.

Late on Dromtariffe cemented their authority on points to Tomás Howard and Murphy to confirm an impressive performance and a place in the penultimate hurdle against holders Banteer.

D Cremin; S McSweeney, M O’Gorman, J Buckley; E Mernagh, Conor O’Callaghan, J Murphy; K Cremin 0-1, M O’Connor 0-1; C Cremin 1-4, T Howard 0-5, E Murphy 0-3; Con O’Callaghan 0-1, D O’Keeffe 1-2, S Howard 0-5 (3f). Subs: S Ahern 0-2 for C O’Callaghan, D O’Connor for S McSweeney, J O’Sullivan 0-2 for D O’Keeffe, M O’Brien for M O’Gorman, B O’Gorman for J Buckley.

FREEMOUNT: J Morrissey; M Curtin, D Curtin, P Curtin 0-1; W O’Regan, J Ballentyne, D Collins 1-0; M Ballentyne, L Enright, B Carroll; A Ballentyne, K Broderick 0-1, A O’Flynn 0-3 (2f); M Lynes 1-0, P Collins 0-5 (3f), I Guiney. Subs: S Fehin for W O’Regan, T O’Callaghan for A Ballentyne.

REFEREE: K Furey (Cill na Martra)