Confidence booster for Barndarrig over Glenealy

BARNDARRIG have advanced to the semi-finals of the Intermediate hurling championship following victory over a misfiring Glenealy, who will also contest the final four despite defeat, on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides were nip and tuck throughout a closely fought first half, with Glenealy repeatedly clawing back from being behind on several occasions, while lacking the required cutting edge to seize the lead. Barndarrig instead pulled away in the second half to come out on top, despite conceding an unfortunate own goal midway through.

It would have taken something inconceivable to prevent both sides from advancing into the semi-finals. Glenealy had already been guaranteed a place following Arklow Rock Parnell’s defeat to Kilcoole, while it would have taken a dramatic, unlikely 21-point loss to send Barndarrig crashing out. As a result, Sunday’s was a contest without much in the way of urgency.

There was very little to separate the two teams for much of the first half. Andrew Kavanagh was the tormentor-in-chief for Barndarrig; effortlessly dispatching any free that Glenealy presented him within scoreable range. To their credit, any Kavanagh score was quickly responded to by Glenealy, through Alan Conyard (3), Stephen Cruise, and Jack Kavanagh.

However, when an opportunity arose wherein Glenealy could take the lead, they found themselves unable to take advantage. After Stephen Cruise had cancelled out an Andrew Kavanagh free, Alan Conyard passed up the chance to give Glenealy the lead, thus setting up a pattern that would hamper their chances to finishing the group stage on a high.

Despite their opponents suffering from this significant frailty, Barndarrig were not able to keep themselves in front for long. Even when Malachy Stone game them a two-point, 0-7 to 0-5 lead, Glenealy pegged them back just as quickly through a pair of Alan Conyard strikes.

Conyard could have given his team the lead shortly thereafter. Unfortunately for Glenealy, though, his free went wide of the upright. That opened the door for Andrew Kavanagh to give Barndarrig the lead for the eighth time. Alan Conyard once again equalised from a free that Glenealy insisted should have been a penalty after the same man was brought down close to the Barndarrig goal.

Andrew Kavanagh being temporarily unable to step up to the set-piece mark due to a knick was made up for by Jacques McCall, who stepped up to the plate to score a free to give his side the lead for the ninth time of the half; unfortunately for Glenealy, it was a lead that Barndarrig would not surrender for the rest of the game as they led for the remainder.

Subsequent scores from Enda Dempsey and Andrew Kavanagh (free) sent Barndarrig into the halftime break 0-11 to 0-8 to the good.

If Glenealy were to have any chance of salvaging the game and ending their group stage on a high, they needed to start the second half quicker and more clinically than how they had played in the first.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead, they would not register a score of their own – their goal came from Michael Crowley putting into his own net – until the final few moments of the game.

Before then, Barndarrig expanded on their lead to cement their victory. Andrew Kavanagh (2) and Oisin Doyle put them into a 0-14 to 0-8 lead before the water-break.

Whenever Glenealy did seem to mount serious pressure on the Barndarrig goal, they suffered from inaccuracy – Alan Conyard and Kevin O’Halloran each put the ball wide – or from good defensive action from their opponents – Bernard Quinn did well to block down a Conyard effort.

As alluded to previously, Michael Crowley’s own goal gave Glenealy a lifeline, but it was a mere blip on the Banrdarrig notebook.

On the other side of the second-half water break, Enda Dempsey, Andrew Kavanagh (free) and Paddy Redmond created a scoreline gap from which

Glenealy were not able to recover. Theo Smith and Jack Kavanagh got the first scores of the second-half to come from actual players of the men in red, but it was much too little, far too late, as Barndarrig earned a deserved confidence boosting victory to take them into the semi-finals. BARNDARRIG: Michael Crowley; Michael Doyle, Bernard Quinn, Liam Dickenson; Jacques McCall (0-1f), Michael Cullen, Shane Whelan; Tim Byrne, Jonathan Devereaux; Malachy Stone (0-1), Paddy Redmond (0-1), Andrew Kavanagh (0-10; 8f); Enda Dempsey (0-2), Martin Cullen, Oisin Doyle (0-2). Subs: Michael Owen Byrne for T. Byrne (56).

GLENEALY: Joey Driver Snr; Jack Byrne, Lee Kavanagh, Liam de Hora; Cian O’Neill, Nigel Driver, Jack Manley; Dean Franey, Theo Smyth (0-1); Jack Kavanagh (0-2), Aaron Meade, Kevin O’Halloran; Stephen Cruise (0-1), Alan Conyard (0-6, 4f), Vinnie O’Flaherty. Subs used: Eddie Doyle for C. O’Neill (HT), Killian Hogan for S. Cruise (44), Derek O’Neill for D. Franey (48), Ross O’Brien for A. Meade. REFEREE: Con Keddy