Adam Murphy masterclass earns Watergrasshill bragging rights but Bride Rovers qualify
Watergrasshill's Kevin O'Neill breaks down the wing while been chased by Rovers' Brian Roche during the Co-Op Superstore Senior A Hurling Hurling Championship game between Bride Rovers and Watergrasshill at Ballynoe. Picture: David Creedon
An emphatic victory, but a bittersweet one all the same for Watergrasshill, who put away neighbours Bride Rovers in the Co-Op Superstores Cork Senior A Hurling Championship at Ballynoe on Saturday evening.
It was a tale of two halves – not just because of the gale that tore through Ballynoe, but because of the target the Hill were chasing once news filtered through from elsewhere. Winning wasn’t enough. They had to win by 18, or their season ended now.
In the end, it’s Rovers who left with the greater reward, their quarter-final place confirmed. The Hill, though, left with the scalp of their old rivals, and the bragging rights having won the first championship meeting between the sides since 1998.
The Hill won the toss, and went with the gale. They ruled with the gale.
By half-time, the lead was nine, Murphy already on 0-12, six from play, utterly untouchable.
But the second half wasn’t as straightforward. Cillian Tobin’s booming point from his own 45 in the first 35 seconds of the restart told Watergrasshill exactly how hard it would be to win by 18.
And still they pressed. Anthony Cronin fed Brendan Lehane, who worked it with Murphy and Ciarán O’Leary, before finishing himself. A goal to make it 1-16 to 1-5, and a just reward for his unrelenting effort. Murphy tapped over a free to push the gap to 12. They needed six more.
Rovers clipped three on the bounce. The tension thickened. Then catastrophe threatened. David Barry tripped, a penalty awarded, and Adam Walsh drove low and hard, only for Aiden Foley to conjure a spectacular save.
Then, an off-ball incident between Conor Hazelwood and Lehane left the latter on the ground. Noel O’Riordan emerged from the dugout to check on Lehane, and gave Hazelwood a friendly brush that sparked a skirmish between both teams, with 15 to go.
O’Riordan saw red in the aftermath, and the Hill kept swinging.
Murphy’s shot was hooked, then spilled kindly for O’Leary, who unleashed a rasping shot from point-blank, which Cian Hogan miraculously kept out. O’Leary pointed the follow-up to move the Hill 11 in front, 52 minutes elapsed.
Three minutes later came the second dismissal – this time a player, Anthony Cronin for a second yellow card, and Walsh punished with two frees for Rovers. Lehane answered from play, supplied by Desmond and O’Leary. The Hill were still carrying the fight, but they needed goals.
Murphy came close on the hour mark, but his effort was wide, and it wasn’t to be.
Watergrasshill were outstanding, ruthless even, in front of goal. But in a three-way traffic jam on four points, they were the ones forced onto the hard shoulder.
The first half had already hinted at the ferocity to come. Murphy set the tone with three of the first four points, rattled the crossbar in the seventh minute, and by the 13th had them five up.
Conleith Ryan’s brilliant fetch and finish hauled Rovers back, only for the Hill to rattle off five unanswered, Kevin O’Neill lording it at centre-back with two of those, Murphy with the other three.
By the 28th minute, it was 0-12 to 1-4. Certainly an acceptable deficit for Bride Rovers to overcome in the latter half. But in less than two minutes, the Hill, or rather, Adam Murphy, stretched that lead to nine.
A 65, a strike over his shoulder as he bundled out over the sideline at Rovers’ 45, and a turnover point straight from the puckout. In 90 seconds the lead ballooned to nine, Murphy utterly unmarkable.
Suddenly, Bride Rovers’ position wasn’t so manageable. And though they fell short, they still make it out of the group of death.
A Murphy 0-13 (0-6 f, 0-1 65), B Lehane 1-2, K O’Neill 0-2, S Desmond, C O’Leary, D Roche, P O’Leary, L Foley 0-1 each.
A Walsh 0-5 (0-4 f), C Ryan 1-0, B Roche, R O’Connell 0-2 each, C Hogan, C Tobin, L Roche, J Mannix 0-1 each.
A Foley; S Field, D McCarthy, D Roche; I O’Callaghan, K O’Neill, A Cronin; S O’Regan, A Spriggs; B Lehane, A Murphy, L Foley; P O’Leary, S Desmond (c), C O’Leary.
P Cronin for L Foley (50), J Gowen for P O’Leary (56), C Healy for O’Regan (58), C Cronin for A Cronin (63).
C Hogan (jc); J Peters, E Roche, J Aherne; C Hazelwood, C Tobin, S O’Connor; C O’Sullivan, D Barry; C Ryan (jc), B Roche, A Walsh; K Kearney, L Roche, R O’Connell.
P O’Flynn for Tobin (11 inj), Tobin for O’Flynn (21), O’Flynn for Roche (HT), J Mannix for Kearney (47).
C McAllister (Aghada)
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