Martin’s give an exhibition
Gusserane hit from all angles
ST. MARTIN’S cemented their position as favourites for the Greenstar Under-21 hurling Premier ‘A’ championship crown with an exhibition of score-taking in their quarter-final clash in Piercestown on Tuesday.
The six starting forwards all made telling scoring contributions, with midfielders Jake Firman and Harry O’Connor also chipping in with 1-2 between them as they came at Gusserane from all angles.
The only slight blot on an otherwise pristine copybook was the concession of two extremely soft first-half goals, something they will want to eradicate from their game before the tougher tasks that lie ahead, starting with Rathnure in the semi-final.
Gusserane managed to blunt the St. Martin’s attack to a degree in the early stages, trailing by 0-3 to 0-2 after seven minutes, with Sam Wall and Mark O’Neill getting their scores.
However, it was like trying to keep the tide out with a pitchfork and the pressure began to tell as the Piercestown and Murrintown men picked off a succession of admirable scores from Rory O’Connor, Joe Coleman, Darren Codd and Conor Coleman to build up a seven-point advantage (0-10 to 0-3) by the 17th minute.
Gusserane were gifted a goal a minute later when Sam Wall’s free from out near the right sideline deceived goalkeeper Dylan Byrne and ended up in the back of the net.
Unfortunately for the New Ross District side, it was simply a case of poking the bear though and two goals from St. Martin’s in as many minutes copper-fastened their superiority.
On 20 minutes the inrushing Harry O’Connor gathered a pass from the influential Joe Coleman and fired the ball past Gusserane goalkeeper Micheál Ryan, who got a stick to it but couldn’t prevent it from crossing the line.
Moments later Ryan was again picking the sliothar out of the net after Conor Coleman raced through and fired a rasping shot into the corner.
St. Martin’s were on easy street but won’t have been happy with the concession of a second major just before the interval, when Jack Culleton floated a delivery into the danger zone which Byrne failed to deal with, and Martin Fitzharris tapped into an empty net (2-16 to 2-5).
Darren Codd got in on the goal-scoring act early in the second-half when he caught a ball in from Barry O’Connor and finished with aplomb.
And in the 36th minute they had their fourth goal, with Conor Coleman again doing the needful, fizzing a shot past Ryan after being teed up by the imperious Rory O’Connor.
Mikey Coleman then plundered the goal his endeavour deserved with five minutes remaining, as his persistence saw him win possession before confidently arrowing the ball to the net.
St. Martin’s: Dylan Byrne; Eoin O’Leary, Aaron Maddock, Johnny Hamilton; Michael Codd, Joe O’Connor, Ben Maddock; Jake Firman (0-2), Harry O’Connor (1-0); Barry O’Connor (0-2), Darren Codd (1-3), Rory O’Connor (0-5); Conor Coleman (2-4), Joe Coleman (0-12, 7 frees, 1 ‘65), Mikey Coleman (capt., 1-1). Subs. - Callum Quirke for Byrne, Tony Kelly for B. Maddock, Kyle Firman (0-1) for M. Codd, Pádraic Rossiter for O’Leary, Jack Devereux for K. Firman.
Gusserane: Micheál Ryan; Donal Kinsella, Mark Rossiter, Eoin Foran; Jack Burford, Gavin Sheehan, Tommy Ryan; Adrian Redmond (capt.), Mark O’Neill (0-2); Martin Stafford, Sam Wall (1-6, 1-5 frees), Seán O’Connor; Jack Culleton, John Roche, Kevin O’Donoghue (0-1). Subs. - Martin Fitzharris (1-0) for Roche, Eoin Codd for Rossiter, Colin Walsh for Stafford.
Referee: Stephen Burke (Volunteers).