Glen Rovers young guns impress in big win over Sars
Glen Rovers' Fiachra O'Driscoll is tackled by Sarsfields' Shane O'Regan, during their Senior Hurling League clash at the Glen Field. Picture: David Keane.
Red FM Division 1 Hurling League champions Sars were defeated by a resurgent Glen Rovers in a highly entertaining game at the Glen Field.
The Blackpool side were understrength but showed far greater hunger that stunned their opponents into submission.
Having lost to St Finbarr’s and Fr O'Neills, Glen manager Tomás Mulcahy will be delighted with how his youngsters rose to the challenge here.
No alarm bells in the Sars camp, as clearly they're not prioritising the league this season with two defeats from three now, but Johnny Crowley and his selectors will be worried with the manner they were outmuscled by their grittier hosts.
Shane O’Regan split the posts in the opening minute before Fiachra O'Drisccoll raised a white flag for the home side, who were unlucky when Simon Kennifick and Diarmuid Wall both came close to goals.
Sars landed three unanswered points and had a 0-4 to 0-1 lead in the seventh minute. The Glen responded with a superb Adam O’Donovan point. They looked far sharper, the forwards moving into space and in the 12th minute, they were rewarded with a classy goal.
A superb run by Luke Horgan saw him get behind the static Sars defence and his pinpoint pass released Simon Kennifick, who billowed the back of the net with precision.
The Glen pushed on as they dominated an out-of-sorts Sars midfield and a point from the hard-working Dean Brosnan saw them up by six points after 20 minutes.
Then Glen U21 ace Diarmuid Wall was on hand to drill a low shot to the corner of the net following more good work by Luke Horgan.
Sars did have a goal opportunity before the break but Aaron Myers' shot was parried to safety by Cathal Hickey and a late Brosnan point left it 2-12 to 0-11.
On the restart, the Glen opened up when O’Leary registered his fourth point as the pressure from the home side continued to knock Sars out of their stride.
Indeed up to midway through the half Sars never looked likely to get back in the game but a Cillian McCarthy goal gave them a ray of hope.
Two consecutive points followed and suddenly it was a five-point game as the questions were being asked of the Glen’s courage and tenacity.
They responded in style as they picked off the points with Brosnan and O’Leary always looking capable of coming up with the big scores.
The sound of the final whistle was greeted with delight by the Glen faithful and Sars can have few complaints as they were well and truly outclassed.
E O’Leary 0-8 (0-5 f), S Kennifick 1-3, D Wall 1-2, D Brosnan 0-5, L Horgan 0-3, F O'Driscoll, A O’Donovan, R Dunne 0-1 each.
C McCarthy 1-2, A Myers 0-5 (0-3 f), S O’Regan 0-5, B Murphy, C Darcy 0-2 each, J Sweeney, B Nodwell 0-1 each.
C Hickey; A Lynch, E Varian, L Coughlan; B Moylan, C McCarthy, F O'Driscoll; A O’Donovan, J Brosnan; L Horgan, D Brosnan, R Dunne; E O’Leary, S Kennifick, D Wall.
B Graham; D English, K Crowley, P Leopold; C Roche, C Leahy, B Murphy; C Darcy, K Murphy; A Myers, S O’Regan, J Sweeney; B Nodwell, L Elliot, C McCarthy.
C O’Rourke for K Murphy (h-t), C Austin for B Nodwell (47).
Cathal McAllister (Aghada).
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