For Blessington
one point up again.
The game had moved into the second minute of injury time when J. P. Moran struck. An Tochar had failed to clear a ball which was bobbing about in the goalmouth. Moran grabbed it and buried it in the net from close in leaving the score at 1-6 to 0-5 for Blessington at the break.
Early in the second period, Eddie Boylan and Tom Donoghue added two more points from play to leave Blessington six points ahead after six minutes.
Conor Davis reduced the deficit again with a point from play and another free by eleven minutes. Two minutes later Gavin Murray struck the decisive blow for Blessington. An Eoin Devlin free from out field was knocked down in the goal mouth and punched home by the in rushing Murray.
Further points were added by Robbie Pender and Jonathan Behan. At this stage An Tochar introduced David Kavanagh, David Molloy, Eoin Mulraine, Graham Sutton and Eamon Wolohan to freshen things up.
Conor Davis pointed again from play on twenty minutes but Daragh Ryan immediately responded for Blessington.
An Tochar battled hard for the final ten minutes in an effort to narrow the gap. Blessington had a good cushion of a lead and could afford to play a containing game.
Despite their best efforts, the only reward that An Tochar got was a point from Conor McKenna, having been set up by Conor Davis to leave a final score 2-11 to 0-9 in favour of the Westerners. BLESSINGTON SCORERS: JP Moran (1-0), Gavin Murray (1-0), Eddie Boylan (0-3, 2 frees), Jonathan Behan (0-2), Robbie Pender (0-2), Stephen Flanagan, Eoin Devlin, Tom Donoghue and Darragh Ryan (0-1 each). AN TOCHAR SCORERS: Conor Davis (0-7, 4 frees), Jack Mockler and Conor McKenna (0-1 each). BLESSINGTON: Barry Behan, Kevin Foster, Barry O’Donovan, Bradley Foster, Tom Donoghue, Stephen Flanagan, Eoin Devlin, Peter Manning, Gavin Murray, Robbie Pender, Darragh Ryan, Jordan Nolan, Eddie Boylan, Davy Nolan. Jonathon Behan. Sub: JP Moran for Jordan Nolan (inj). AN TOCHAR: Peter O’Toole, Conor Shortt, Gavin Kenny, Sean Davis, Andrew Carstairs, Stephen Collier, Brendan Swords, Jamie Salley, Lorcan Nolan, Stephen Connor, Jack Mockler, Conor McKenna, Luke Power, Conor Davis, Michael Brady. Subs: David Kenna for Jack Mockler, David Molloy for Andrew Carstairs, Eoin Mulraine for Sean Davis, Graham Sutton for Luke Power, Eamon Wolohan for Stephen Connor. REFEREE: Philip Bracken.