Stiffer test for slick Martin’s
Hot favourites reach final
ST. MARTIN’S moved into the Greenstar Under-21 hurling Premier ‘A’ championship final but were at least given a stiffer test than previous opponents in Rathnure on Monday of last week.
The final score - a twelve-point win for the Piercestown-based side - suggests a fairly comfortable evening. While Rathnure never looked like causing an upset, they certainly gave St. Martin’s the type of opposition they desperately needed before the final.
There was still a marked difference between the teams, as the scoreline suggests. Rathnure scored eight frees to their opponents’ four, which might not be expected of a side losing in a routine manner, but it says a lot about how the game was played.
Rathnure got nothing easy, as every ball was contested, and every break was countered by strong defending.
At the other end the quality of St. Martin’s shone through as, even against the hosts’ sweeper, they attacked with pace out wide early and later over-ran the middle to edge away.
The hosts did as well as they could have expected against their uber-talented opponents but if they had one failing it was that they couldn’t keep the game close in the early stages and at least make them play catch-up for a while.
On the contrary, St. Martin’s scored the opening seven points of the game. Rory O’Connor was on fire from the off, registering a trio, while Joe Coleman (two), Barry O’Connor and a fine effort from Ben Maddock also contributed to the lead.
Ciarán O’Connor stopped the rot in the 13th minute but it took just seconds for St. Martin’s to deal a hammer blow. Good play at midfield got the ball forward diagonally, and Mikey Coleman supplied the deft flick to Rory O’Connor who hared away to net.
Trailing by 1-7 to 0-1, Rathnure won the second quarter with O’Connor adding five points including his only score from play. Yet with Conor Coleman opening his account, Joe Coleman adding another free and Barry O’Connor notching a second, St. Martin’s led by 1-10 to 0-6 at the break.
The light breeze slightly aided the hosts after the interval but it didn’t show on the scoreboard. With Harry O’Connor and Joe Coleman on target, it was 1-12 to 0-7 when Conor Coleman batted Kyle Firman’s under-hit point attempt to the net in the 43rd minute.
Rathnure battled on but it was contest over at that point. Ciarán O’Connor took his tally to ten before Ben Ronan became the second scorer for his side in the 55th minute. The Rathnure free-taker also had a couple of close-range dead-balls saved by an otherwise untested Dylan Byrne.
At the other end Jake Firman picked off two points in the final quarter, Maddock drilled one from half-way, and Kyle Firman grabbed a nice score from the right side of the field to see St. Martin’s safely into the championship decider.
St. Martin’s: Dylan Byrne; Eoin O’Leary, Conor Firman, Johnny Hamilton; Ben Maddock, Aaron Maddock (0-2), Joe O’Connor; Harry O’Connor (0-1), Jake Firman (0-2); Barry O’Connor (0-2), Michael Codd, Rory O’Connor (1-3); Conor Coleman (11), Joe Coleman (0-5, 4 frees, 1 ’65), Mikey Coleman (capt.). Subs. - Kyle Firman (0-1) for H. O’Connor (35), Jack Devereux for Codd (56), Tony Kelly for B. Maddock (57), Pádraig Rossiter for O’Leary (59).
Rathnure: Liam Barron; Philip Redmond, Denis Maher, Micheál O’Connor; Eoin Higgins, Brian Quigley (capt.), Ben Ronan (0-1); Ciarán O’Connor (0-10, 8 frees, 1 ’65), Michael Martin; Paddy Flynn, Seánie Redmond, Aodhán Foley; Seán O’Connor, James Tobin, Rory Higgins. Subs. - Thomas Furlong for Flynn (38), Eoghan Byrne for E. Higgins, inj. (45).
Referee: John Carton (Monageer-Boolavogue).