Glen Rovers see off rivals St Finbarr's to reach Premier Junior Hurling quarter-final
Glen Rovers' Glenn Kennefick under pressure from St Finbarr's Adam Buckley at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
A hard-earned win for Glen Rovers over southside rivals St Finbarr’s ensures they qualified for the Co-Op Superstores Premier Junior Hurling Championship quarter-final after a disappointing group clash at Páirc Uí Rinn on Friday.
In a topsy-turvy game, the Glen, inspired by the experienced Conor Dorris who finished with an impressive 0-7 (six from play) were deserving winners over a Barrs side who only played in snatches.
The Glen had a good opportunity to open the scoring on the first possession but Conor Dorris fluffed the opportunity but the same player made no mistake in the third minute from a similar strike. The Barrs defence were struggling and consecutive points from Adam O’Sullivan and Shane Busteed surged the Blackpool side into a three-point lead.
The Barrs after a slow start eventually got up and running courtesy of a Kevin O’Flynn white flag but the Glen soon responded when Evan Murphy split the posts. Suddenly the Glen went into meltdown and four unanswered Barrs points all from play edged them ahead by the minimum.
The Glen looked lethargic as the Barrs were now testing them in key departments and when Ciaran Steele struck over a beauty midway through the half the Togher outfit had taken a two-point lead.
The 13-minute Glen drought continued and when Colm Keane registered his second point with 10 minutes remaining to the interval it was his side's sixth white flag on the bounce.
In truth the Glen were disjointed but they got a ray of hope in the 23rd minute when Zack Lynch struck over their first score in 18 minutes.
The Glen did have a great goal opportunity with five minutes remaining to the interval when Shane Busteed was left through on goal but instead of making a pass to an unmarked teammate he went for goal as his shot was parried to safety.
In the closing minutes, the Glen were superb and seven unanswered points that included three from Dorris helped them go in at the interval with a three-point lead, 0-11 to 0-8.
The first-half stats made interesting reading as out of the 19 points scored 18 came from play but the Barrs won the wide count amassing 12 to their opponents' seven.
On the restart, Dorris continued his scoring streak with a classy point in the opening minute that saw the Barrs respond immediately with a similar strike from Jack O’Brien.
The dominance of the Glen was evident for the remainder of the half as they saw out the game in control as they set their sights on Nemo Rangers in the quarter-final.
C Dorris 0-7 (0-1 f), E Murphy 0-4, L Quilligan 0-3, D Coughlan 0-2, A O’Sullivan, S Busteed, Z Lynch, G Kennifick 0-1 each.
I Lordan 0-4 (0-2 f), K O’Flynn 0-3, C Keane, S Callanan 0-2 each, R O’Sullivan, D Murray, C Steele, J O’Brien 0-1 each.
B Heffernan; C Healy, G Marshall, J Mulcahy; D Coughlan, B Murphy, A O’Sullivan; F O’Driscoll, Z Lynch; L Quilligan, E Murphy, C Martin; S Busteed, G Kennifick, C Dorris.
D Murphy for G Kennifick (inj 52).
J McCarthy; O Murphy, S O’Leary, S Kennedy; E O’Regan, G O’Connor, D Scannell; C Steele, J O’Brien; R O’Sullivan, A Buckley, C Keane; I Lordan, K O’Flynn, D Murray.
S Callanan for S Kennedy (h-t), J Lenihan for D Murray (45), R O’Sullivan for E O’Regan (60).
Rory O’Connell (Cobh).
App?
