Mahon’s big scoring spree powers Rapps to victory
THE SCORING prowess of Tomás Mahon proved too much for Buffers Alley to overcome in the opening round of the Pettitt’s Senior hurling championship Group A in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday.
The Rapparees sharpshooter racked up an impressive personal haul of 2-11, clinically nabbing the all-important pair of majors to see off a spirited but somewhat underwhelming Buffers Alley side.
Looking at the scoresheet, the Monamolin men would surely have expected to emerge victorious by keeping the rest of their opponents’ line-up to just six points from four different scorers, and in that sense it was a job reasonably well done.
Especially because this Rapparees side can be a real handful, as they have scoring threats all over the park and many of them were successfully blunted. The Bellefield side could counter that they were often nullified by a string of fouls and it wouldn’t be an inaccurate account either.
In truth, while four points separated the sides at the end, and there was never more than five between them at any stage, it never felt like the Rapparees were going to be denied the victory.
In that sense, the game was played on their terms. They did what they needed to do without setting the world alight, and they got the two points for the victory. Collect them and move on is the name of the game in April.
Buffers Alley chose to operate a two-man full-forward line, dropping Ciarán Murphy back into the full-back line and playing Paudie Reidy more as a third midfielder. If the idea was to nullify the threat of a talented Rapps middle third of the field, it worked pretty well.
But it proved to be a struggle to consistently get much change from the stingy Rapps defence. The Alley did pillage three goals but 13 scores doesn’t win too many games in this championship.
The Enniscorthy town side looked to be getting the early measure of their opponents when they moved into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead after 14 minutes.
Mahon had three of those, Jack Kelly scored a cracking point, and Darragh Pepper picked off his first in the early exchanges.
A third Paul O’Leary point narrowed the gap to two and the Alley led for the first and only time in the 17th minute when Ross Donohoe’s long ball broke off O’Leary to Andrew Kenny and he swept the sliothar home.
Their advantage lasted less than 60 seconds. Pepper levelled the game before providing the searching ball to the edge of the square that broke off defender Ciarán Murphy’s hurl, into the path of Mahon, and he pulled to the net.
The three-point advantage at that stage increased into a 1-9 to 1-5 lead at the interval. Clearly, Buffers Alley needed a positive start
emerged from to the second-half the dressing and to their room credit ready they for battle.
Donohoe and Ciarán Kenny pointed in the opening 80 seconds but Kevin Ryan responded However the game was right in the melting pot when Shane Grannell raced away, was first hooked, then flashed a shot at the second attempt that Eamonn Furlong saved, only for Kenny to pull home the rebound. It didn’t lead to better things, and in fact, the Alley didn’t score again for another eleven minutes. In that time Rapparees opened up their biggest lead, as Mahon fired home his second goal from Pepper’s clever sideways pass to help his side into a 2-12 to 2-7 advantage. It was in danger of becoming a theme, as every time they fell out of touching distance, the Alley hit back. Their third goal came with 16 minutes left when Ciarán Kenny’s long free was broken to himself by Grannell before he shot to Furlong’s net from close range. Ryan Mahon immediately replied at the other end, and then ‘Mossy’ added his eighth to make it 2-14 to 3-7.
The Gorey District side kept fighting and got within two points on a couple of occasions in the final ten minutes, but Mahon had the final say with the last pair of clinching points in added time.
Rapparees: Eamonn Furlong; Dillon Redmond, Liam Ryan, Mel Doyle; James Peare, Ricky Fox, Jack Kelly (joint capt., 0-1); Lenny Connolly, Kevin Foley (joint capt.); Kevin Ryan (0-1), Ryan Mahon (0-1), Anthony Roche; Darragh Pepper (0-3), Tomás Mahon (2-11, 0-9 frees), Alan Tobin. Sub. - Richard Farrell for Roche (46).
Buffers Alley: Darren O’Brien; Conor Kenny, Bobby Kenny, Paudie Reidy; Seán Murphy, Ciarán Kenny (capt., 0-1), Ross Donohoe (0-2, 1 ‘65, 1 free); Robert O’Leary, Kevin Roche; Shane Grannell (1-1), Willie Doran, Ciarán Murphy; Paul O’Leary (0-4, 3 frees), John Lee Meyler, Andrew Kenny (2-1). Subs. - John Farrell (0-1) for R. O’Leary (31), O’Leary for Roche (53), Páraic Roche for C. Murphy (53).
Referee: Seán Whelan (St. Martin’s).