A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR
AVONDALE ARKLOW ROCKS 5-18 1-7
THE Avondale hurlers turned in a superb performance in their county final against Arklow Rock Parnells in the Dacia Cars Intermediate Hurling Championship to both secure the crown and their passage back to the top table where they have potential to not only survive but to thrive if improvements continue.
Emmet O’Sullivan’s men were dominant in most sectors of the field with the Rocks suffering some harmful blows early on that ruined any chances they might have had of causing what was always going to be a fairly major upset.
Everything had to go right for the Rocks to win this game. The last things that there needed were a yellow card after 10 seconds for midfielder Colin O’Connor and a red card for half-forward Cian Doyle after 10 minutes. The dismissal was disastrous for Sean Pierce’s men. It freed up Eugene Dunne at the back and provided space for the likes of Eamonn Kearns, Ray Nolan and Shane Byrne to exploit.
The letter of the law suggested that Doyle deserved the card after kicking out to try and free himself as he was being held but it seemed harsh given the context of the game and the effect it was going to have on the Rocks challenge.
When Doyle left the field, Avondale led by 0-4 to 0-1 through points from Ray Nolan (two, one free), Ross Ward and a superb score from Eamonn Kearns after referee Damien Byrne had played advantage for the county man. The Rocks had their account opened by Paddy Mellon from a free in the 6th minute.
Down to 14, the Rocks started to struggle. Eamonn Kearns was in sublime form, breaking tackles, finding gaps and getting that ground gobbling stride up to full speed as often as possible. By the end of the first half Avondale led by 1-11 to 1-2 and were looking fairly comfortable.
The Rocks, to their credit, had battled every bit of the way through that opening half and were in a relatively healthy situation when Paddy Mellon blasted home to the back of Tom Finn’s net after John Cushe had been fouled in the square. That major and the point that followed from Shane Mellon reduced the Avondale lead to six points and had improved the situation for Sean Pierce’s side immeasurably. Alas, they suffered a bad blow on 30 minutes when a speculative Ray Nolan shot ended up in the back of the net. Rocks netminder Olagh Redmond looked to be already planning his next move as he raised his hand to catch the ball, but the ball wasn’t gathered, and it landed in the back of the net. Redmond didn’t deserve such a calamity to befall him.
That sent Avondale in leading by 1-11 to 1-2 and a rapid 1-1 after the restart, the point from Gearóid Murphy, the goal from the hugely impressive Ross Ward within 120 seconds of the start pretty much killed off this game as a contest.
With 12 gone in the second half it was 4-13 to 1-5 thanks to goals from Ross Ward and captain Paul Gahan and Avondale coasted home from here with Ray Nolan putting on a display of hurling throughout and deservedly capturing the Man of the Match award while being pushed hard for the gong by Eamonn Kearns and corner-forward Ross Ward. Nolan’s redeployment out to the middle third of the pitch from his starting position of corner-forward suited the veteran and allowed him to express himself with all the beauty of a sporting poet.
The Rocks will feel aggrieved at the loss of Cian Doyle and other decision that went against them, but they could never really gain a foothold in this game. Any other year and the Intermediate title would have been brought back to Arklow given the form of Sean Pierce’s side but Avondale’s recovery after dropping down from Senior last year left Emmet O’Sullivan’s men far too strong. If Rocks can maintain the excellent work going on and come back stronger next season it will take a very good team to stop them.
The ’Dales are the champions, and deservedly so. Huge games from Eugene Dunne, Eamonn Kearns, Ross Ward, Conor Sheehan and Ray Nolan and confident and capable all over the field with Jack Manley, Brian Burke and Eanna Owens making positive impressions off the bench. They return to Senior with the helpful addition of a promising group of young players who will benefit hugely from the year at the lower grade.
– Avondale: Ross Ward 2-4, Ray Nolan 1-6 (4f), Eamonn Kearns 0-5 (1f), Paul Gahan 1-0,
Scorers
Jack Manley 1-0, Niall Heffernan 0-1, Gearóid Murphy 0-1, Brian Burke 0-1.
Arklow Rock Parnells: Paddy Mellon 1-3 (3f), Shane Mellon 0-3 (1f), Colin O’Connor 0-1.
Tom Finn; Anthony O’Toole, Conor Sheehan, Keith Byrne; Jim Doyle, Eugene Dunne, Danny Owens;
Avondale:
Eamonn Kearns, Shane Byrne; Niall Heffernan, Karl Phelan, Gearóid Murphy; Ross Ward, Paul Gahan, Ray Nolan. Subs: Brian Burke for N Heffernan (48), Eanna Owens for P Gahan (48), Jack Manley for R Ward (52).
Olagh Redmond; Jimmy Dignam, Eamonn Doyle, Martin Gilbert; Tony Kinsella, John Furlong,
Arklow Rock Parnells:
Sean Somers; Shane Mellon, Colin O’Connor; Cian Doyle, Paddy Mellon, Tiernan Mellon; Jason Redmond, John Cushe, Conor Doyle. Subs: Kevin O’Reilly for J Dignam (39), Chris Kavanagh for J Redmond (45), Darragh Walker for P Mellon (45), John Foxton for E Doyle (56), Danny Curran for C O’Connor (56).
Damien Byrne (Kiltegan)
Referee: