J.H.L. Div 2 Final

Another case of so near and yet so far on Sunday at home in the J.H.L. Div.2 Final. A one point defeat was hard to accept especially when it seemed to many present that we’d snatched an equalizing point right at the end – only to have it waved wide. The first half of the game was very even. Midleton had the first point before John O’Dowd opened our scoring. The Magpies went up 0-3 to 0-1 before Stephen Boyce (free) had our second point. Behind 0-5 to 0-2 after quarter of an hour, however, points from Mike Hogan and Stephen Boyce’s free left us just one behind 0-5 to 0-4. Midleton finished the first half strongest with a goal and a point to leave it 1-5 to 0-5 at half time. The second half saw the Rovers get on top. We scored 1-5 and restricted Midleton to 4 points. John O’Dowd got our goal and also a point. Stephen Boyce had 3 more points with Alan O’Keeffe and Tomás Kearney also raising white flags. We had the deficit down to a single point 1-11 to 1-10 nearing the end of the game. It looked as though we’d got a draw and a chance of extra time but the umpires decided otherwise.