O’Toole’s defeat Éire Óg
Kavanagh introduction provides timely boost
LUKE O’TOOLE’S 2-03 ÉIRE ÓG 1-05
THE hurlers of Luke O’Toole’s and Éire Óg Greystones played out a decent battle in a damp Aughrim last Thursday evening in group 1 of the under-13 hurling league.
Conditions weren’t the best on the evening but both sides still produced some fine passages of play and some lovely scores with Luke O’Toole’s just shading it in the end with Éire Óg’s wide tally coming back to haunt them when the final whistle sounded.
A well populated panel made the journey from the north of the county for this clash and they enjoyed the better start when Kevin Booth found the net after some poor play from the home team with four minutes on the clock.
The Greystones lads were in fine form early on and Chase Scully’s shot was kept out by Luke O’Toole’s keeper Darragh Hayden before Oisin Shanahan raised the first white flag of the game to give the Éire Óg side a 1-01 to 0-00 lead.
Luke O’Toole’s woke from their slumber and Dermot Toomey had his shot blocked out for a 65 by Mickey O’Brien Hatton and the 65 was taken by the same man but was successfully cleared by the visiting defence.
Éire Óg’s wide tally was kept ticking over throughout this game and in Darragh Hayden they found a young goalkeeper in fine form and his efforts and the wayward shooting from the Greystones men kept the score from rising.
O’Toole’s were looking threatening though and they made that threat real when a less than clinical clearance gifted them an opportunity and a groundstroke from Tomas Lacey fell to Lorcan Toomey who fired home to the back of the Greystones net.
Éire Óg attacked but Cian O’Liongaigh could only find Hayden and at the other end Oisin Keegan went wide from distance with 18 on the clock.
It was O’Toole’s turn now to give their wides tally a boost and they went astray from the hurls of Lorcan Toomey, Tomas Lacey, and Toomey again before Chase Scully grabbed another point for Éire Óg and that was how it stayed until the break.
O’Toole’s enjoyed a great start to the second half and took the lead within six minutes through a point from Dermot Toomey and a goal from Tomas Lacey to leave the score reading 2-01 to 1-02.
A key incident took place around this time that was to have a major impact on the game. Alex Kavanagh was sent into the fray having arrived late and he took the number one jersey from Darragh Hayden who went up the field wearing number 14.
With 11 minutes on the clock, Kavanagh drove over a beast of a free to leave a goal between the teams. Daniel Burns went wide from a decent goal chance for Éire Óg and then Kavanagh produced the first of his excellent saves from the hurl of Oisin Shanahan.
That same Greystones player went wide from distance shortly afterwards before the excellent Stephen O’Toole split the posts with a lovely score with 20 minutes gone.
A lovely run from Kevin Booth and a fine point kept Éire Óg in touch at 2-03 to 1-04 but their wides continued to mount up at key moments although Oisin Shanahan probably scored the point of the game with 27 on the clock to reduce the deficit to a single point.
Back came Éire Óg. Oisin Shanahan dropped one short to Kavanagh and then went wide from a free and then the Luke O’Toole’s goalkeeper pulled off an excellent save to keep his side in the lead and that save secured victory as Ciaran Manley sounded the full-time whistle shortly after.
A decent battle overall with some fine play from both sides. Plenty of positives to take from both teams with some very capable young hurlers on display all over the field.
Luke O’Toole’s: Darragh Hayden; Ciaran Lambert, Kevin Murray, Sam Carroll; Hugh Gunning, Stephen O’Toole, Dermot Toomey; Oisin Keegan, Lorcan Toomey; Mark Shannon, Tomas Lacey,
Éire Óg Greystones: Mickey O’Brien Hatton; Thomas O’Connell, Fintan Potts, Ryan Ovenden; Kieran Ovenden, Frankie Byrne, Oisin Shanahan, Kevin Booth, Darragh McGowan, Cian O’Liongaigh, Chase Scully, Christy Connor, Conor Ryan, Joshua Barry, Seamus Darcy, Daniel Burns.
Referee: Ciaran Manley.