Glenealy in control
Late burst a positive for St Patrick’s
GLENEALY ST PATRICK’S 2-15 0-11
ANOTHER bout of shadow boxing in the Dacia Cars Senior Hurling Championship produced a useful enough outing for the defending champions Glenealy and seen them ease past a struggling St Pat’s to record their second win of the campaign.
Despite being without the services of the Glynn brothers, the Glenealy men were always in control of this game, with St Pat’s coming with a late burst with five points from play rattled off in the last 10 minutes to give their supporters some hope ahead of the business end of this championship.
In reality though, this was a fairly straightforward victory for Garry Laffan’s men.
Interestingly, Danny Staunton was handed the number three jersey for this game and faced Andy O’Brien from the start of this game. Staunton handled the threat competently, however, O’Brien was starved of quality ball and was pulled back to centre half-back midway through the first half with full-back Gerry Connors going up to full-forward and centre half-back John Connors slipping back to pick up Alan Driver as Pat’s desperately sought possession around the middle of the field.
The over-reliance by the St Pat’s team on Andy O’Brien is a major concern for them. The county man scored six of their 11 scores and had a hand in at least four of the others. Pat’s need more players to step up to the mark and start to dominate their positions.
Glenealy were in total control for the opening half, leading 1-9 to 0-2 at the break, with Alan Driver’s goal arriving late in the half when Pat’s failed to clear the ball from their own defence allowing Driver the chance and he placed the ball past ‘Dee’ O’Brien in the Pat’s goal.
Jonathan O’Neill Snr had played a major role in that opening half, scoring four points, with Ruairi O’Neill, Gavin Weir (two, one free), Alan Driver and Jamie Byrne raising white flags over the course of the first period. Andy O’Brien pointed one from play and a free with the Wicklow town side collecting seven wides for their troubles.
Andy O’Brien added two points either side of a Paul O’Brien minor and the Pat’s sharp-shooter was his side’s only scorer until the 54th minute when George ‘Bee’ O’Brien fired over to trigger a period of dominance for Michael Neary’s men as substitutions began to disrupt the rhythm of the game.
It was all Pat’s for the last stages of this game with fine scores from ‘Bee’ O’Brien, Ricky Quinn and Christy Moorehouse Jnr but Glenealy’s second goal had already killed this game as a contest. Gerry Connors had the last say with a fine point but Glenealy were well home and hosed at that stage.
Pat’s will need massive improvements if they are to improve on last season’s showing. Glenealy are looking good for the defence of their title. The men of Bray look to be the only outfit capable of stopping them in their tracks. The two met last night in Kilcoole with the result unknown at the time of going to print. A Bray win wouldn’t be a shock following their performance against Éire Óg, but at the end of the day it’s still only another bout of shadow boxing.
Scorers – Glenealy: Jonathan O’Neill Snr 0-6 (3f, 3 65), Gavin Weir 0-3 (1f), Alan Driver 1-1, Ruairi O’Neill 0-1, Jamie Byrne 0-1, Robert Byrne 0-1, Gary Hughes 0-1, Paul O’Brien 0-1.
St Patrick’s: Andy O’Brien 0-6 (5f), George ‘Bee’ O’Brien 0-2, Ricky Quinn 0-1, 8 0-1, Gerry Connors 0-1.
Cian Staunton; Emmet Byrne, Danny Staunton, Ronan Manley; Tommy Doyle, Gary Byrne, Joey Driver; Jonathan O’Neill Snr, John Manley; Ruairi O’Neill, Jamie Byrne, Robert Byrne; Gavin Weir, Alan Driver, Paul O’Brien. Subs: Jonathan O’Neill Jnr for R O’Neill (H/T), Gary Hughes for J Manley (40min, inj), Matt Traynor for G Weir (60min), Lee Kavanagh for T Doyle (60min).
John ‘Dee’ O’Brien; Dale Quinn, Gerry Connors, George O’Brien Jnr; Eddie Kelly, John Connors, Shane Doyle; Christy Moorehouse Jnr, George ‘Bee’ O’Brien; Michael Connors, Ricky Quinn, Chris Kavanagh; Jimzer O’Brien, Andy O’Brien, James ‘Bonner’ O’Brien. Subs: Patrick Murphy for C Kavanagh (46min), Niall Hanton for ‘Bonner’ O’Brien (54min).
Damien Byrne (Kiltegan)