Fr. O’Neills surrender U-21 title after defeat to Duhallow
Duhallow 3-19 Fr. O’Neills 3-14
FROM a thrilling and fast paced encounter, a strong Duhallow finish earned the dividends on overcoming holders Fr. O’Neills in a cracking County Premier 1 U-21 Hurling Championship Round 2 on a chilly Pairc Uí Chaoimh 4G.
A freezing night for hurling yet the contest paraded plenty of fireworks for the brave patrons viewing the fare. Neither side operated at full strength, Fr. O’Neills, taking a precaution of not involving a few key players ahead of the big Munster IHC Final against Ballysaggart yet the Ballymacoda boys looked well placed on producing a timely second half run that erased an eight point deficit to jump four ahead.
However Duhallow’s spirited efforts never waned and a productive finish yielded telling scores to secure a third round meeting against Douglas.
From a contest rich in endeavour and of swaying fortunes, Duhallow had settled into the proceedings quickly where Cillian Buttimer, Conor O’Callaghan, Danny Buckley and Evan Murphy caught the eye. Enjoying a grip on the proceedings, Duhallow’s accuracy yielded a flurry of scores to jump 0-11 to 0-3 ahead. No surprise, the champions stepped up their game with William Abernethy and John Millerick in fine shooting form and a rewarding spell yielded scores to trail 0-14 to 0-11 at the break.
And O’Neills enjoyed a positive start to the second half, Abernethy posting three points for stalemate. Indeed O’Neills looked the better side, full forward Jason Hankard netted before good work from Brian Kenneally placed Abernethy for a second major.
Trailing 2-14 to 0-16, Duhallow reacted to a precarious situation, Dan O’Donoughue netted from a long range free before Cathal Browne set up substitute Brandon Murphy for a goal. Back came O’Neills, Hankard, the instigator for a Millerick green flag that reduced the deficit to the minimum.
The contest remained frantic, swinging from one end to the other with scoring chances aplenty on offer.
A point from Nicholas Linehan eased Duhallow nerves, the divisional men sealed the destination of the spoils with a second goal from the alert Murphy whose introduction as a substitute merited a 2-3 return. The outcome allows Duhallow to get back on the road after a first round reversal to Blarney. DUHALLOW: L Philpott (Banteer); C Buttimer (Kilbrin), C Coughlan (Banteer), T Healy (Millstreet); M Buckley (Kilbrin), C O’Callaghan (Dromtariffe) 0-1, P Browne (Newmarket); C Crowley (Newmarket) 0-1, D O’Donoughue (Kanturk) 1-3 (1-1f); D Buckley (Millstreet) 0-4, E Murphy (Dromtariffe) 0-3, D Murphy (Castlemagner); J Curtin (Meelin) 0-1, A Coughlan (Banteer) 0-1, N Linehan (Meelin) 0-2. Subs. B Murphy (Dromtariffe) 2-3 for J Curtin (inj), A Murphy (Millstreet) for C Coughlan, C Browne (Newmarket) for D Murphy.
FR. O’NEILLS: C Sloane; C Lee, C Cullinane, O Murphy; A McEvoy, A Kenneally, O Steele; C Swayne, J Millerick 1-2; W Abernethy 1-10 (0-6f, 0-1’65), P Hassett 0-1, C O’Connor; R Kenneally, J Hankard 1-1, B Kenneally. Subs. M Cody for O Steele, D Griffin for Colin Swayne.
REFEREE: J Murphy (Castletownroche)