Fethard seal second place
Taghmon end in third spot
FETHARD CAME out on top in the battle for second spot in Group B of the Top Oil Intermediate ‘A’ hurling championship on Saturday with a four-point win over Taghmon-Camross in O’Kennedy Park, New Ross.
Luckily for referee John Tobin, his early miscalculation of Fethard’s scoring tally did not bare a lasting impact on the outcome of the game as he appeared to give the eventual winners a phantom point during the first-half.
The error came in strange circumstances as referee Tobin asked for the scoreboard to be changed early in the game so that it showed the scores level at three points apiece, despite the majority of onlookers and his own linesman having the score recorded at 0-3 to 0-2 to Taghmon-Camross.
Two early Ian Carty points and a single from Adam Winters actually had the eventual losers ahead by three before they went eleven minutes without a score and were swiftly pegged back.
In this time, Pierce Doyle was on target twice. He tied the game up in the eleventh minute before firing home from Garrett Foley’s pass to raise the green flag.
Further Daire Barden and Mark Wallace minors were answered by Carty and Luke Sinnott so that the score closed at 1-5 to 0-5 at the break, despite the scoreboard now insisting it was 1-6 to 0-5.
Taghmon-Camross rallied at the beginning of the second-half and were briefly in the lead at 1-8 to 1-7, after Pierce Doyle got the better of Fethard ‘keeper Seán Foley for a major and Barry O’Gorman shot over from distance to put them in front.
From there, St. Mogue’s dominated and closed out a wellearned victory. Jesse Foley and John Tubritt overturned the lead and more Wallace points widened the gap. Taghmon-Camross would only manage three scores in the final 20 minutes through Stephen O’Gorman, Sinnott and Carty, and Fethard finished stronger.
A late Wallace double and a single from Tubritt put the seal on a deserved victory to set up a quarter-final meeting with Our Lady’s Island. Taghmon-Camross finish third and will face Duffry Rovers in the last eight.
Fethard: Seán Foley; Chris Molloy, Rúairí Tubrid, Martin Power; Richie Waters (0-1), Kevin Rowe, Brian O’Donohoe; Garrett Foley (capt.), John Tubritt (0-2); Jesse Foley (0-2), Mark Wallace (0-6, 5 frees), Daire Barden (0-2); Graham O’Grady, Mikie Dwyer, Joe Sutton (1-2). Sub. - John Rice for Dwyer (61).
Taghmon-Camross: Seán O’Gorman; Shane Doyle, Alan Nolan, Mark O’Gorman; David O’Keeffe, Ian Carty (0-4 frees), Stephen Stafford; Barry O’Gorman, Darren Carty; Thomas Furlong (0-1), Chris Cullen, Adam Winters (0-1); Luke Sinnott (0-2), Stephen O’Gorman (0-2), Pierce Doyle (1-1). Sub. - Michael O’Gorman for Cullen (52).
Referee: John Tobin (Geraldine O’Hanrahans).