Island shine in must-win clash
Marshalstown depart race
THE STAKES couldn’t have been any higher in Killurin on Sunday when Our Lady’s Island and Marshalstown-Castledockrell locked horns in this Top Oil Intermediate ‘A’ hurling championship Group A clash, knowing that the loser would be departing from the title race.
And although the Enniscorthy District side came into the game on the back of a surprise but fully-merited win over Oulart-The Ballagh, they were no match for their fired-up south county rivals who have come with a late burst to reach the quarter-finals, building solidly on that narrow victory over St. Patrick’s last time out.
Indeed, the Island were full value for their nine-point success, and the only matter open to debate was which one of their substitutes made the bigger impact off the bench.
That accolade rested between two players, for starters Noel Dempsey whose first touch after his half-time introduction was a sublime crossfield pass from the left corner to set up Darragh Sinnott for the game’s decisive goal.
That strike pushed the Island clear by 1-11 to 0-6 and was the perfect tonic as they were now facing the breeze.
And while the unfortunate Sinnott departed soon after on a stretcher with an ankle injury, his replacement, Eoin Wright, was keen to match Dempsey on the ‘super-sub’ front as he fired over three eye-catching points before the end.
Defeat and a frustrating fifth place finish will come as a big blow to the youthful Marshalstown-Castledockrell outfit whose elusive county Minor, Diarmuid Doyle, posed a serious threat in the early stages.
His two points cancelled out earlier efforts from the equally talented Quinn Saunders, and Dean Maloney (free), while Eoin Bennett pointed from a tight angle to push the green and gold-clad side 0-3 to 0-2 clear in the seventh minute.
A good patch followed from the Island though as Cian Meyler, Maloney (free), Colm Kinsella, Fintan Mullins and Saunders opened up a four-point gap.
And they had gone one better by the break, retiring with an 0-11 to 0-6 advantage after Saunders, Maloney (free), Meyler and Cathal Devereux added further scores, with Diarmuid Doyle (two frees) and substitute Colm Quigley replying.
Quigley posed the only attacking threat for Marshalstown-Castledockrell on the re-start, picking off another two points, but that early goal left the Island in command.
James Farrell and Quigley did pull back two points in the third quarter, but any flow in the game was unavoidably lost around that period due to a series of injuries.
Eoin Wright ended a barren spell for the Island lasting nearly 16 minutes with his first point, and they drove on from there to earn the right to meet Fethard in the quarter-final.
Our Lady’s Island: Alan Kinsella; Brian Moore, Eamon Maloney (capt.), Rory Reville; Cathal Devereux (0-1), Liam Kinsella, Davy Corish; Gary Walsh (0-1), Joey Murphy; Dean Maloney (0-3 frees), Fintan Mullins (0-2), Quinn Saunders (0-5, 1 free); Cian Meyler (0-2), Colm Kinsella (0-1), Darragh Sinnott (1-0). Subs. - Noel Dempsey for C. Kinsella, inj. (HT), Nicky Keane for Sinnott, inj. (41), Eoin Wright (0-3) for D. Maloney, inj. (45), Dylan Murphy for Meyler (60+6).
Marshalstown-Castledockrell: Mark Brennan; Johnny Frayne, Darragh Kehoe, Ken Doyle; David O’Connor, Colm Bennett, Mark Morris; Michael Morris, John Cullen; James Farrell (0-1), James Finn (0-1), Michael Kelly; Diarmuid Doyle (0-6, 4 frees), Joe Kelly (capt.), Eoin Bennett (0-1). Subs. - Colm Quigley (0-3) for E. Bennett, inj. (27), Michael Hughes for J. Kelly, Eoin Bennett for Farrell (56).
Referee: Derek Murphy (St. Martin’s). OULART-THE Ballagh produced a dominant second-half performance to put Duffry Rovers to the sword in Group A of the Top Oil Intermediate ‘A’ hurling championship in St. Patrick’s Park on Sunday.
The Duffry held a one-point advantage at the interval (0-9 to 0-8) but they were comprehensively outplayed after the switch of ends by an impressive Oulart-The Ballagh side which leap-frogged them to take top spot in the table.
Not many would have seen a 14-point drubbing coming as the sides appeared evenly matched in the opening half, with Pad Mythen keeping the scoreboard ticking over for Oulart-The Ballagh and Liam Pender replying with four points for Rovers.
Johnny Flynn-O’Connor, Alan O’Neill and Cian Fitzhenry also chipped in with scores for the Duffry, while at the other end Adam Nolan and Ben O’Connor added two points apiece to add to Mythen’s contribution.
Oulart-The Ballagh ripped the Duffry defence to shreds after the interval, with Pad Mythen knocking over five points on the trot to give them a four-point advantage on 42 minutes.
The lead was stretched out to seven, with Peter Sutton, Ben O’Connor and Mythen all splitting the posts, and although Donie O’Connor stopped the rot for the Duffry with their first score of the half in the 50th minute, the wind was well and truly taken out of their sails seconds later when Tomás Dunne hit the back of the net.
Nicholas Cullen sent a longrange free into Dunne and he did well to make room for himself, before unleashing a shot past Stephen Watchorn.
In less than a minute Oulart-The Ballagh had their second major when Cormac Finn raced through