Askamore bow out
Adamstown richly-deserved winners
THE CONTRAST between victory and defeat couldn’t have been any greater in Innovate Wexford Park on Sunday as Adamstown outpointed Askamore to advance to a quarter-final clash with Monageer-Boolavogue in The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship.
With other results also going against them, this four-point reversal consigned the Gorey District club to a disappointing fifth place finish, similar to their footballers, leaving their main adult teams both out of the running before the end of August.
Shane Tomkins was clearly a huge loss for Askamore, with just one of their 14 points scored from play by a starting forward. P.J. Nolan had moved up from midfield for some of his four scores admittedly, but in general they relied on Ted Kinsella and Conor Levingstone who grabbed nine points from frees between them.
Adamstown had a greater threat with Michael Furlong a dynamic presence at midfield and county Minor Liam Stafford looking sharp up front.
Wexford’s best newcomer, James Breen, lined out in the unusual role of corner-forward and wasn’t operating at full throttle, going off at the three-quarters stage before returning to the fray for a brief cameo in added time.
Adamstown had the better of the first quarter exchanges and led by 0-7 to 0-4 after 15 minutes, with John French, Lorcan French (four, three frees), Michael Furlong and Liam Stafford on target.
Ted Kinsella accounted for three of the Askamore tally from placed balls, with Martin Hayden scoring that sole point from one of the six starting attackers in the seventh minute.
However, the north county side were by no means out of the running at the break after outscoring their rivals by 0-3 to 0-2 in the second quarter, with Kinsella splitting the posts again before P.J. Nolan added a brace.
The French brothers, Tony and Lorcan (free), completed the firsthalf scoring for Adamstown, wearing the blue and white of Good Counsel, but they never looked back after adding three more points on the trot inside nine minutes on the re-start from the same duo along with Michael Furlong.
Askamore - in the Kilrush camogie jerseys - did manage to narrow the margin to two points a couple of times but didn’t create one goal chance of note. Adamstown did have the ball in the net in the 45th minute but it was disallowed as Barry Power had encroached in the square before Furlong’s speculative effort beat a distracted Brian Hayden.
The Askamore followers had some reason to still hope when the gap was down to 16-14 with five minutes left, but Adamstown thoroughly deserved the win which was confirmed with the last two points from Liam Stafford and Tony French (free).
After losing the last two county semi-finals to the eventual champions by one- and two-point margins respectively, this early exit will come as a big blow to Askamore.
Adamstown: Paul Delaney; Ian Bradley, M.J. Cooper, Brendan Furlong; P.J. Carroll, Shane O’Gorman (capt.), Vinny Doheny; Johnny Connors (0-1), Michael Furlong (0-2); John French (0-2), Lorcan French (0-7, 6 frees), Liam Stafford (0-3); James Breen, Tony French (0-3, 1 free), Harry Cosgrave. Subs. - Barry Power for Cosgrave (HT), Paudie Barden for Breen (45), John Whelan for Doheny (56), Breen for J. French (60+2).
Askamore: Brian Hayden; David Travers, Frank Lancaster, Patrick Nolan; James Lancaster, Tommy Devereux, Tom Kavanagh; P.J. Nolan (0-4), Tom Hayden (capt.); Podge Byrne, Martin Hayden (0-1), Conor Butler; Ted Kinsella (0-4 frees), Conor Levingstone (0-5 frees), Tom Byrne. Subs. - Raymond Lancaster for Kinsella, inj. (41), Conor Travers for Butler (46), Fionn Fortune for T. Byrne (46), Frank Boggan for P. Byrne (56).
Referee: Gearóid McGrath (St. James’).