Murphy turns on style
BLACKWATER’S DECENT start paved the way for a nightmare finish at breezy Killurin on Sunday as St. James’ took the spoils on the opening day of The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship with eight points to spare.
Shane Murphy turned on the style for the winners with a personal tally of 1-6 on a day when no one else on the pitch came close to making scoring look easy in this Group A clash.
The men from the east coast set out full of confidence with 14 matches already on the clock this season against a side more renowned for their football prowess than their hurling ability.
Despite playing into a brisk wind, Blackwater repeatedly held the lead in the first-half, with a couple of frees from Kevin Corrigan and a point from Dean Whelan setting them on their merry way.
However, each time they edged ahead, their Ramsgrange rivals summoned up a prompt reply, with Shane Murphy planting the few placed ball opportunities that came his way smartly between the posts.
It appeared that Blackwater had finally taken a firm hold on proceedings when midfield play-maker Diarmuid Murphy joined the attack with a sniping run and a confident finish to the net behind Luke Murphy on 25 minutes.
At that stage they held a 1-3 to 0-3 advantage but, rather than kicking on, they found themselves six points in arrears before another Corrigan found the target just seven minutes of match time later.
The turnaround was triggered inevitably by Shane Murphy who spun on his heel to land a gorgeous point from long range, the tonic score followed in quickfire succession by four further points in the run-up to half time, with Daniel Keating, Mark Molloy and Alan Walsh joining in the fun.
Two ahead at the break, St. James’ were then given a further boost in confidence delivered by Shane Murphy in the form of a goal, for which substitute Tommy Walsh must take much of the credit.
From there on, the hurling of the eventual winners improved with every stroke, their state of mind further improved by a second goal, this one from Donal Barron, scrambled home after Blackwater failed to clear the ball when a free landed on the edge of the square.
The leaders tacked on a couple of beautiful team scores, finished by Barron and by Mark Molloy, as they were 2-11 to 1-4 to the good at the end of the third quarter.
The neat passing was under-pinned by some brave defending, none braver than Tommy Walsh who made one remarkable block, though his afternoon ended prematurely when he picked up a second yellow card just before the end.
Blackwater, who tended to over-complicate for most of the afternoon, strove valiantly to recover but when a penalty awarded when Darren Byrne was pulled down, was pinged off the bar by Dean Wright, it clearly was not their day.
St. James’: Luke Murphy; Robbie Barron, Brian Molloy, Paul Barron; Darragh Lyons, Liam Murphy, Jason Barron; Mark Molloy (0-2), Mark Myler; Daniel Keating (0-1), David Doyle, Shane Murphy (1-6, 0-2 frees, 0-1 ‘65); Donal Barron (1-1), Alan Walsh (0-1), Michael O’Grady (0-2). Sub. - Tommy Walsh for Myler (30).
Blackwater: Peter O’Brien; Anthony Roche, Kieran Roche, Richard Blake; Mick Lillis; Denis Carroll, Eoin O’Neill, Kevin O’Brien; Diarmuid Murphy (1-0), Kevin Corrigan (0-5 frees); Paul O’Leary, Dean Wright (0-2, 1 free, 1 ‘65), Dean Whelan (0-1); Jake Nobbs, Darren Byrne. Subs. - Robert McGuinness for A. Roche (38), Denis O’Brien for Nobbs (46), Paul Murphy for Whelan (46).
Referee: Damien Donovan (Volunteers).