Ballymurn in command
CROSSABEG-BALLYMURN got back to winning ways with a fairly comprehensive victory over struggling Rathgarogue-Cushinstown in The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship Group B at Bree on Friday.
For the most part the victors controlled proceedings and were full value for their eleven-point win, but there were signs from Rathgarogue-Cushinstown that their own plight is not a hopeless one, particularly in a purple patch at the beginning of the second-half when they scored six points without reply.
Of course, management would want more than a ten-minute performance out of their charges and the challenge is in producing the kind of hurling - which saw five different men score in quick succession - for long enough to worry their upcoming opponents.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn might have had a few seconds of doubt, as their lead evaporated against the breeze, but their youthful squad doesn’t do fear. From 1-11 to 0-11 with 20 minutes to go, they re-applied themselves and ran out impressive winners.
That youth was in fine fettle in the first-half as they racked up eleven points. They led just by 0-4 to 0-3 after a scrappy first quarter that was only lit up by two Oisín Foley points. When Sam Kelly started picking off scores from all sorts of distances and angles his side started to motor.
Rathgarogue-Cushinstown got four points from Daire Bolger and a score from the lively Tadhg Cody before the break. Yet maybe things could have been different had Bolger’s rocket of a shot in the early stages found the net rather than flash wide.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn in- creased their 0-11 to 0-5 interval lead shortly after the resumption when Ronan Devereux beat Colin Whelan with a tidy finish after being picked out alone on the left of goal by Oisín Foley.
The major concession woke Rathgarogue-Cushinstown out of their slumber and they registeted some superb scores in the next ten minutes. Matthew Cody and Paddy Murphy added their names to the scoresheet but it was probably Bernard Furlong’s booming effort from distance that was the pick of the bunch.
However, Crossabeg-Ballymurn weathered the storm and, after a string of points settled their nerves, Foley put the result beyond doubt with a cracking finish to the net after great work in defence by Paddy Devereux.
If that was a tidy finish, Tony Murphy’s to the top corner two minutes later was picture perfect as his side edged closer to an expected quarter-final berth.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn: Mark Dempsey; Paul Roche, Billy Roche, Matty Sludds; Conor Shovlin, David Kehoe, Paddy Devereux; Conor Devereux (0-2), Ronan Devereux (1-0); Oisín Foley (1-3), Sam Kelly (0-7, 4 frees), Shane O’Rourke (0-1); David Jackman (0-1), Tony Murphy (1-0), Niall Murphy (0-2). Subs. - Eoin McDonald for Jackman (48), Luke Redmond for T. Murphy (51).
Rathgarogue-Cushinstown: Colin Whelan; Peadar Cody, Ollie Bolger, Ricky McGrath; Bryan Cody (0-3, 1 free), Matthew Cody, Peter Aspel; Robert Murphy, Paddy Murphy (0-1); Daniel Martin Carroll, Bernard Furlong (0-1), Brian O’Neill (0-1); Jason Dunne, Daire Bolger (0-5, 4 frees), Tadhg Cody (0-3). Subs. - Francis O’Brien for Martin Carroll (49), Liam O’Shea for P. Murphy (51), Colm Murphy for P. Cody (55), Eoghan Whelan for Furlong (56).
Referee: John O’Loughlin (Monageer-Boolavogue).