Watergrasshill are Red FM SHL division five champions after an easy victory over Tracton

Watergrasshill 4-23 

Tracton 1-19 

Watergrasshill produced a strong performance to defeat a game Tracton side in the Red FM Hurling League Division Five final at Mayfield on Saturday.

In truth, Tracton were no match for the premier intermediate side, who dominated the game from start to finish.

The sliotar was hardily thrown in before Sean Desmond delivered the perfect pass for Adam Murphy to bury the ball past Kieran Lyons.

Murphy then followed with a point before Dan Harrington had the Tracton score up and running.

Dominating the early exchanges Watergrasshill hit three unanswered points as Murphy, Ciaran O’Leary and Padraig O’Leary all had points.

A temporary respite for Tracton with a Ronan Walsh point was followed by a five-minute period that was simply owned by the Imokilly side as Murphy (2), Sean Desmond 2) and Ryan Murray had the Watergrasshill side leading by 1-9 to 0-2 points after 15 minutes.

Gallantly Tracton fought back into the contest as Daniel Flaherty, Ronan Walsh and two from Dan Harrington had the South East men narrowing the deficit.

However, it was all for nothing as Murphy pulled the trigger on 26 minutes to add another goal to his tally.

Tracton made a valiant attempt to narrow the score with four points to Watergrasshill’s one, as Sean Kiely, Eoin O’Donoghue, Walsh (2) all had white flags to a single effort from Murphy leaving the halftime score at 2-11 to 0-10.

The opening minutes of the second half had a glimmer of light for Tracton with a Walsh point but their opposition simply turned on the after burners as Desmond and Murphy wreaked havoc in the South East’s defence.

Scoring eight points to two before this game ended as a contest on 43 minutes Brendan Lehane added a third goal, with the score at 3-18 to 0-13.

Sean Kiely then grabbed a goal for the Tracton men and they added two points, including a fine point from Micheal O’Sullivan as the score read 3-19 to 1-15 on fifty minutes.

Murphy continued to pick off points at will as they added another five points to their final tally as Tracton continued to chase what was now a lost cause, as Padraig O’ Leary struck for a fourth goal.

The final score deservedly went to Murphy, who was simply outstanding over the hour.

Both teams will now turn their attention to the upcoming championship as Watergrasshill will again face Carrigdhoun opposition in the form of Carrigaline on August 3rd.

Tracton face stiff competition in their efforts to win the South East Junior A Hurling Championship, having first to qualify from the so-called group of death that includes Kinsale, Valley Rovers and Shamrocks.

Scorers for Watergrasshill: A Murphy 2-11 (7F), S Desmond 0-6 B Lehane and P O’Leary (1-1 each A Cronin, R Murray, C O’Leary, D O’Leary (0-1 each).

Tracton: R Walsh 0-8 (7F), S Kiely 1-1, D Harrington and D Byrne (0-3 each) E O’ Donoghue M O’ Sullivan, K Corrigan D Flaherty (0-1 each) Referee Niall Fahy Brian Dillions 

WATERGRASSHILL: A Foley; S Field, D O’Farrell, D Roche; M O’Driscoll, I O’ Callaghan, C Healy; C O’Leary, A Spriggs; A Cronin, B Lehane. R Murray; A Murphy, P O’Leary, S Desmond.

Subs: D O’Leary for C Healy, B Fenton for S Field, J O’ Riordan for R Murray, l Foley for A Cronin, J Gowen for A Spriggs.

TRACTON: K Lyons; J Kingston, K Healy, R Sinclair; J Good, G Webb, K Corrigan; D Byrne, D Flaherty; E O’Donoghue, M O’Sullivan, A Kiely; R Walsh, S Kiely, D Harrington.

Subs: E Corrigan for J Kingston, R O’ Donovan for Alan Kiely, M Castleton for E O Donoghue.

Referee: Niall Fahy, (Brian Dillions).