’Ford come up with the goods
HWH-Bunclody crash out
THEY NEEDED a three-point win to be sure of making the quarter-finals of The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship, and Craanford responded with a thumping eight-point Group B victory over lack-lustre HWH-Bunclody at Bellefield on Saturday.
The result pitched the losing side into limbo, safe from relegation but out of the quarters after a very limp display during which they managed just three points from play.
The first of those three came in the first minute off the stick of Eoin Kelly, who then promptly set up Peter Atkinson for the second.
That proved to be the high point of the afternoon for the followers of the Half Way as their side was pinned back for the remainder of the first-half by a combination of Craanford ambition and a stiff breeze.
The trend was emphasised on the quarter hour when corner-forward John Fleming first hit a neat point on his reverse and then clipped in the goal which put his side firmly in control.
Goal number two arrived from the hurl of wing-forward Matthew Nolan, knocked into John Byrne’s net after good approach work by Fleming and Ollie Doran.
The gulf on the scoreboard continued to expand to 2-9 to 0-5 at the break mainly from open play, not least because referee James Flood’s laissez faire approach meant the leaders earned just a handful of frees all afternoon.
They also bemoaned the lack of Hawkeye at the venue, with efforts from the excellent Kevin Poole and from Doran ruled wide in the face of loud insistence from spectators in the stand that they were on the money.
It appeared that the missing scores might be critical when HWH-Bunclody put together their best spell of the game in the quarter after the interval, making use of the elements.
Four points from placed ball specialist Seán Kenny and one from Eoin Kelly kept them apparently in the hunt, only for the scores to dry up completely in the closing stages.
The Craanford full-back line deserves huge credit for strangling their opponents’ attacking threat in this decisive stage of the game.
They were all prepared to take knocks for the cause, with all three requiring treatment from the physio as they repelled the besiegers.
And the hardest knock of all was sustained by brave goalkeeper Derek Finn who was left on the ground in his square for several minutes after making a save from Aidan Nolan.
He played on after being picked up and his efforts were not in vain as he recovered to continue keeping Nolan and his colleagues at bay.
Craanford: Derek Finn; Tony Kavanagh, Pat Kenny, James Byrne; Michael O’Loughlin, Mick Lyons, Joe Berney; Pat Murray (0-1) Niall Berney; Ollie Doran, Kevin Poole (0-7, 3 ’65s, 1 free), Matthew Nolan (1-2); John Fleming (1-1), Des Kavanagh (0-1), John Lancaster. Subs. - James Smyth (0-1) for Lancaster (28), Shane Kavanagh for D. Kavanagh (46), William Conroy for Fleming (61).
HWH-Bunclody: John Byrne; Conor Hendrick, Enda Slevin, Barry Kehoe; Conor Crean, Aidan Nolan, James Moorhead; Colm Farrell, Billy Kelly (0-2 frees); Seán Kenny (0-5, 4 frees), Conor Kinsella, Kevin Dunne; Jason Cowman, Peter Atkinson (01), Eoin Kelly (0-1). Subs. - Páuric Sinnott for Dunne (33), John Dunne for Kelly (42).
Referee: James Flood (St. Mary’s, Maudlintown).