Junior B Hurling West Final
Eire Og Annacarty 3-15 (24)
Sean Treacys 3-8 (17)
We fell to defeat in the final of the west Junior B Hurling Final on Saturday last in Cappawhite.
Gearoid Ryan got Eire Og off the mark after just two minutes with a point from a free but this was immediately cancelled out from the resulting puck out being caught by Sean Kennedy who turned and pointed to tie up the game. Points from Sean Breen and David Breen saw Eire Og open up an early two point lead but Ollie Carr responded with a well taken score. Eire Og though were well on top and Gearoid Ryan added two more points from a free and play. John Butler tried to keep us in touch as he scored a long range point from inside our own 65. Gearoid Ryan however continued to be a thorn in our side as he added another two points from placed balls but again Butler responded with a point at the other end.
Eire Og continued to dominate on the scoreboard and Gearoid Ryan added two further points from play and one from a free. Sean Kennedy responded with a point before the break which saw Eire Og leading 0-10 to 0-5.
The second half started with a bang as we upped the ante almost immediately from the throw in and within two minutes the gap was down to two. Joe Carey caught a great pass from Sean Quigley and he turned sending the ball crashing to the net for the game’s first goal. Just over a minute later and we hit the front for the first time when Ollie Carr reacted quickest following excellent defensive pressure from TJ Quigley, Carr reacted quickest as he fired it to the Eire Og net for our second goal in two minutes. We were enjoying the better of the possession but crucially missed some chances to extend our lead and Gearoid Ryan levelled up the game with a pointed free.
The remainder of the 3rd quarter was a tit-for-tat affair as point from Butler & Damien Nolan kept us in the hunt with Ryan tacking on points at the other end. Eire Og were quickest to react however when a high ball broke to the awaiting Michael McGrath, who had just come on as a substitute, he made no mistake in finding the back of the net. John Butler kept the scoreboard ticking over and he added another point to reduce Eire Og’s lead back to two points.
Six minutes from time the game again turned on its head, a long ball into the Eire Og defence eluded the two awaiting defenders and forwards as Damien Nolan timed his run to perfection to flick the ball past Jamie O’ Dwyer in the Eire Og goal to put us a point ahead but we could only watch as Pat Aherne tied up the game yet again with four minutes of normal time remaining when he pointed from long range. Eire Og edged ahead with a minute to go when Ryan again pointed from a free.
We were now committed full blooded to attack in order to rescue the game with the result that Eire Og forwards were being afforded generous space and went four points clear when substitute Michael McGrath found the net again as injury time came over the horizon. We never gave up though and Jamie O’Dwyer was alert in the Eire Og goal to deny Joe Carey a second goal from a rasping shot. John Quinn rounded off the scoring and sealed Eire Og’s victory when he goaled to round off the scoring just before the final whistle.
Sean Treacy’s: Seamus Butler, Mark Hogan, Seamus Costello, Greg Kennedy, Ger Egan, Joey Ryan, Pat Hickey, Ger O’Toole, John Butler(0-4), Sean Kennedy(0-2), Sean Quigley, Liam Nolan, Damien Nolan(1-1), Ollie Carr(1-1), Joe Carey(1-0)
Subs Used: TJ Quigley, Michael Hayes, Kevin Ryan, William Ryan
Minor Hurling
Our west semi-final v Galtee/Golden was deferred. Revised fixture details to be confirmed
