Barntown on fire from start
Three early goals the key
THEY SAY that a good start is half the work and this proved very true in the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League Roinn ‘A’ hurling final in St. Patrick’s Park on Thursday.
Within three minutes of the throw-in, Barntown had 3-1 on the board and this early haul of scores was always going to separate the teams at the final whistle.
From the off, Barntown’s size, speed and skill simply blew Piercestown away in a succession of repeated attacks. Midfielder Darragh Murphy started proceedings with a powerful run and point.
Ferdia Reynolds showed some great skill to get the game’s first goal immediately after. Patrick Berry and Seán Cooney then finished off this dream start with a goal apiece.
Piercestown eventually gathered themselves and put a stop to this Barntown onslaught. In fact, for the remainder of the first-half Barntown would only score once more from play. Corner-back Eoin Sinnott in particular was tenacious in defence as he led the fightback.
Barntown got the remainder of their first-half scores through accurate free-taker Darragh Murphy. Four frees and a Ferdia Reynolds point from play managed to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Piercestown could only reply with one point through Joe Mernagh.
Fourteen points down and facing a formidable opponent, one would have forgiven the Piercestown boys for losing enthusiasm in the second-half. That was never going to happen however.
Centre-forward Joe Mernagh continued where he left off and got two early points in the second-half to rally his team-mates.
Number 8s, Eoin Ormonde and Daniel Brazzill, then exchanged scores. Momentarily, there was a spark of belief when Oisín Kehoe rifled the ball into the Barntown net, but this was to be Piercestown’s last score.
Darragh Murphy tapped over two more frees to steady the ship, and Barntown goalie Cian Turner and centre-back Conor Lyne ensured that the door remained firmly shut for the closing minutes.
Barntown: Cian Turner, Josh Murphy, Fionn O’Callaghan, Kevin Rowe, Cian White, Conor Lyne, Callum McDonald, Daniel Brazzill, Daragh Murphy, Seán Cooney, Ferdia Reynolds, Will Hayes, Patrick Berry, Lughaidh Hayden, Ben Redmond, Aaron Nolan, Jack Sinnott, Paddy O’Leary, Aaron Murphy, Rory Gallagher, Bradley McGuire, Adam Dempsey, Liam Donohue, Alex Breen.
Piercestown: Cormac Simpson, Reuben Lafferty, Paul Coggins, Eoin Sinnott, Harry Quirke, Josh Whitty, Alex Lafferty, Eoin Ormonde, Mark Hennessy, Oisín Kehoe, Joe Mernagh, Ben Larkin, Alfie Jeffares, Marty Kilshaw-Reynolds, Sam Norval, Ryan Sinnott, Nathan Roche, Thomas Connick, Calum McCleane, Rory Roche, Leo Barry, Adam Newport, Charlie Quirke, Luke Whitty, Conor Mullen, James Hegarty, Eric O’Gorman, Ciarán Kelly, Oscar Barry, Eoin Dodd.