Awesome Aghabullogue land hurling league title after hitting Ballyhea for five goals

Aghabullogue 5-14 Ballyhea 1-9 

A sublime Aghabullogue display made a mockery of the underdogs tag as they easily accounted for Ballyhea in the Red FM Division 5 Hurling League final at Glantane.

Playing with the aid of a slight breeze, Aghabullogue were at it right from the throw-in as they looked a yard quicker to every ball that came into their forward line.

The sides exchanged points in the opening three minutes but a minute later, we witnessed a goal right from the top drawer. Aghabullogue talisman Mathew Bradley gathered the ball 30 yards out and with the Ballyhea defence presuming he would take his point, he suddenly decided to rifle his shot to the roof of the net.

There is little doubt Aghabullogue were the superior side for long periods of the first half as the Ballyhea keeper denied Bradley and James Lane two certain goals that would have put them out of sight.

Despite their superiority, Aghabullogue’s scoring return was low and they were punished in the final minute when Luke Crowley took a perfect pass from Niall Crowley to drill a low shot to the corner of the net.

Trailing 1-9 to 1-5 at the break, Ballyhea made four subs and opened the second half with a clinical John Morrisey white flag. After going 11 minutes without a score, Shane Tarrant split the posts before Lane showed his class to find the back of the net in the 48th minute.

Ballyhea completely lost their shape and were further punished with a clinical Luke Casey goal in the 50th minute. Ballyhea can have few excuses and with Aghabullogue finding plenty of space there was little mercy shown in the closing minutes.

Goal number four came courtesy of a second Lane strike following lovely build-up play from Bradley. Casey was on hand to find the fifth goal in the closing minute as the Intermediate A side gave their Senior A opponents a lesson in hurling on a very humid afternoon.

The Aghabullogue chief Michael McGrath looked a happy camper at the final whistle but his Ballyhea counterpart Claude Gough has some serious work to do before their opening championship game with Inniscarra.

Scorers for Aghabullogue: M Bradley 1-7 (0-3 f), J Lane 2-2, L Casey 2-1, S Tarrant 0-2, C Feury, J Foley 0-1 each.

Ballyhea: L Crowley 1-0, J Morrissey 0-3 (0-2 f), M O’Sullivan 0-3 (0-1 f), C Crowley, E O’Leary, M Mortell 0-1 each.

AGHABULLOGUE: I Barry-Murphy; T Long, A Barry-Murphy, B O’Sullivan; T J Buckley, P Buckley, C Gillespie; P Ring, C Feury; L Casey, S Tarrant, J Foley; O O’Connell, M Bradley, J Lane.

Subs: O O’Connell for TJ Buckley (53), D O’Leary for O O’Connell (55).

BALLYHEA: M Browne; A Barrett, M Morrissey, L Hanley; N Crowley, C Crowley, S Walsh; L Crowley, C Cox; J Morrissey, G Morrissey, D Curtin; D Copps, M O’Sullivan, E O’Leary.

Subs: W Carroll for N Crowley (h-t), F Sullivan for M Morrissey (h-t), K Morrissey for D Curtin (h-t), M Mortell for D Copps (h-t), N Crowley for G Morrissey (51), J Hickey for S Walsh (51), D Curtin for J Morrissey (55).

Referee: Pat Lyons (Bishopstown).