Ballymartle strike in added time to beat Blackrock and seal promotion 

Ballymartle 0-20 Blackrock 1-14 

BALLYMARTLE clinched a league final place following a late flurry against Blackrock in the RedFM Hurling League Division 3 encounter in Riverstick on Thursday night.

Three late Ballymartle points, two from Darren McCarthy and one from Matt Higgins edged out the city outfit in the pulsating final moments of this clash.

It was the visitors who opened proceedings as Peter Cotter sent over an early point.

Taking full advantage of playing on home territory, Ballymartle hit three points on the bounce as Matt Higgins, Darren McCarthy and Cillian Lordan gave Ballymartle a lead of three points to one after eight minutes.

Blackrock, who were guilty of some wayward shooting, eventually had their second point on nine minutes as Luke Fogarty fired over.

Points from Cummins and Luke O'Callaghan added two points to Ballymartle's tally on 12 minutes as Blackrock's Emmet Sheehan had a goal chance blocked by Seamus Corry.

Trailing by five points to two, a Luke Fogarty point, followed by a Tadhg Deasy goal, had the Rockies inching into the lead.

The advantage didn't last long as McCarthy had two frees and Higgins a point from play as they led by 0-8 to 1-3 on 21 minutes.

From there to the interval, Blackrock hit four unanswered points, with the impressive Deasy claiming two, as they went in for the break leading by 1-7 to 0-8.

With both sides playing a fast-paced game, two early second-half Ballymartle scores found a reply from the visitors with three of their own.

Higgins and Luke O'Callaghan's points made it 0-13 to 1-10 after 47 minutes. Darren McCarthy hit a goal chance straight at the Rockies netminder and David O'Shea hit the post with the rebound.

With both sides continuing to exchange points, David Farrell tied up the game on 54 minutes before Shane Cummins pushed the home side in front again.

Fionn Coleman looked to have secured a share of the spoils with a long-range points on 60 minutes but Ballymartle had other ideas, knocking over three unanswered points.

Scorers for Ballymartle: M Higgins 0-7 (0-1 f), D McCarthy 0-5 (0-3 f), L O'Callaghan 0-3, S Cummins, C Lordan 0-2 each, J McCarthy 0-1. 

Blackrock: T O'Donovan 1-3 (0-2 f), F Coleman 0-3 (0-2 f), L Fogarty 0-2 (0-1 f), P Lynch, I O'Keeffe, P Cotter, D Farrell, C O'Leary, E Sheehan 0-1 each.

BALLYMARTLE: D O'Leary; R Stuart, TJ Murphy, C Coleman; S Corry, R Deasy, S Cummins, F Desmond, K O' Callaghan; M Higgins, J McCarthy, N Crowley; D McCarthy, C Lordan, L O'Callaghan.

Sub: B Corry for K O'Callaghan.

BLACKROCK: D O'Shea; S Healy, J Golden, R Cregan; L O'Donovan, S Murphy, D McCarthy; D Farrell, E Sheehan; L Fogarty, C O'Leary. T Deasy; J Allen, P Lynch, P Cotter.

Subs: Ian O'Keeffe for J Golden, F Coleman for T Deasy.

Referee: Alan O'Connor, Ballygarvan.