Minor hurling: Sarsfields hit top gear to blow away Glen Rovers after cracking game
Rory Higgins, Sarsfields, and Conor Burke, Glen Rovers, compete for possession in the Rebel Óg P1 Minor Hurling Championship game. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Sarsfields produced champagne hurling to defeat champions Glen Rovers in a pulsating Rebel Óg Premier 1 MHC clash at Riverstown on Wednesday.
This game had everything but when the questions were asked Sars had all the answers and in the end the Glen could do little to stop their firepower.
In their opening games, Glen Rovers lost by the minimum to Douglas and Sars did well to see off a late Ballincollig comeback in the closing minutes.
There is little doubt Sars did well to recruit an experienced coaching staff in Bertie Og Murphy, Kieran 'Fraggie' Murphy, Ronan Murphy, Craig Leahy and Cormac Duggan.
The opening exchanges were frantic with both teams going for the jugular in pretty wet conditions.
The home side looked up for battle and with Adam Dunlea a constant threat to the Glen defence a brace of points from the Sars talisman gave them a 0-2 to 0-1 lead in the seventh minute.
The Glen were struggling on the scoring front and after Gavin O’Callaghan opened their scoring in the third minute, they were held scoreless until the 12th minute with the same player registering their second from a placed ball.
Dunlea and Tom Huggins movement continued to pose the Glen defence problems and when Dunlea chalked up his fourth point in the 13th minute his side looked comfortable when commanding a two- point lead.
The spirit of the Glen resurfaced and Michael T Brosnan showed his class when reducing the deficit to the minimum midway through the half.
Suddenly the Glen began winning far more possession and with O’Callaghan continuing to strike some classy frees the visitors surged into a two- point lead with ten minutes remaining to the interval.
Scoring became a rarity for both sides and after going 17 minutes without a score Huggins pounced in the final minute to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
Just when the Glen thought they would be going in with a half time lead Sars pounced with a goal that stunned them into submission.
Corner forward Finn O’Connor ran at the Glen defence and his pace helped him to guide the ball past the bewildered keeper.
After a pulsating half Sars went in at the break commanding a two- point lead 1-5 to 0-6.
Sars got the perfect start with a stunning Adam Leahy point just 20 seconds into half but that was soon matched by a similar strike from Dunlea.
The tempo of the game rocketed as tempers began to flare in the opening five minutes but a brace of monstrous points from Jack Tierney increased the Sars lead to four points.
Credit to Sars they were denying their opponents quality possession and with Josh McNamara and Eoin Considine producing stunning points their lead increased to five points midway through the half.
That’s as good as it got fot the champions as Sars were terrific in the final quarter with Adam Dunlea soloing 50 yards before unleashing an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net.
In the end the Glen are eliminated from the championship with Douglas defeating Ballincollig in the other group game. It will be an interesting final game when Sars and Douglas do battle for the right to top the section.
A Dunlea 1-6, T Huggins 0-7 (0-2 f), F O’Connor 1-0, A Leahy, J Tierney 0-2 each, J McNamara, B O’Mahony, H Cogan 0-1 each.
G O’Callaghan 0-7 (0-5 f), C Burke 1-0, R Buckley 0-2, MT Brosnan, K Foley 0-1 each.
F O’Donovan; M Boyle, T O’Flynn, J Tierney; E Considine, R Higgins, K Murphy; A Leahy, J McNamara; H Cogan, A Dunlea, C Condon; T Huggins, C Fennessy, F O’Connor.
S Sheehan for C Fennessy (58), B O’Mahony for F O’Connor (58), C Long for A Leahy (58).
J Goulding; R O’Callaghan, E Murphy, L Woods; C Connolly, M T Brosnan, C Cunningham; C Burke, J Brosnan; G O’Callaghan, R Buckley, K Foley; C Turnbull, D Heffernan, E McGuckin.
C Barrett for C Turnbull (48), C O’Brien for F Heffernan (50).
Chris Broderick (Na Piarsaigh).
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