St Catherine’s book place in PJHC final after shaking off spirited Glen challenge

St Catherine's 2-11 

Glen Rovers 0-13

St Catherine’s will have a shot at silverware after booking their place in the Premier Junior Hurling Championship final on Friday evening. They shook off a spirited Glen Rovers second string by four points after a feisty second half that saw some fantastic scores. 

The victory for Catherine’s means they’ll play one of either Barryroe or Erin’s Own in the final.

It was nip-and-tuck in the first-half with both sides trading magnificent scores from range. 

St Catherine's Sean O’Donoghue was leading the charge for his men with 6 scores in total. But everything he did Glen full forward Conor Dorris matched in every way.

Dorris put up a crucial seven points to keep his side in the contest throughout. 

His accuracy from the dead ball was Glen’s secret weapon and with Catherine’s lack of discipline in the backline he had plenty of opportunities to score from frees, scoring five of them in total.

Catherine’s keeper Eoin Davis was called into action on a couple of occasions in the first-half. 

Twice Glen man Rhys Dunne was clean through on goal and twice Davis pulled off massive saves to deny him.

With less than a minute to go in the first half Darragh Morrison played a ball across the square to Kevin Barry in space and he put the ball away with aplomb, giving Catherine’s a three point lead at the short whistle at 1-7 to 0-7.

The second period was, once again, neck and neck with both sides posting impressive scores but the crucial moment came when Eoin Condon found himself in space on the edge of the Glen area. 

The substitute composed himself and smashed it past Ben Heffernan to all but end hopes of a Glen revival.

Scorers for St Catherine's: S O’Donoghue 0-6 (1f), K Barry and E Condon 1-0 each, S Cotter 0-3 (1f), K O’Donoghue and R Galvin 0-1 each.

Scorers for Glen Rovers: C Dorris 0-7 (5f), B Heffernan 0-2 (2f), L Quilligan 0-2, R Dunne and S Busteed 0-1 each.

ST. CATHERINE'S: E Davis; E Wallace, E O’Riordan, F O’Connell; C Hegarty, O Fitzgerald, L O’Connor; K Wallace, S Cotter; B Mulcahy, R Galvin, S O’Donoghue; K Barry, D Mangan, D Morrison.

Subs: M Mulcahy for B Mulcahy (HT), W Leamy for D Morrisson (40), E Condon for O Fitzgerald (48), C Neville for F O Connell (55), K O Donoghue for K Barry (55).

GLEN ROVERS: B Heffernan; G Marshall, B Murphy, E Varian; J Mulcahy, F O’Driscoll, C O’Sullivan; G Kennefick, D Coughlan; D Murphy, R Dunne, A Lordan; S Busteed, C Dorris, L Quilligan.

Subs: G Mulcahy for J Mulcahy (HT), E Murphy for G Kennefick (HT), C Martin for C O’Sullivan (47), E O Neill for A Lordan (56).

Referee: Michael O’Mahony.