Favourites Sarsfields power past St Colman's into Rebel Óg Premier 1 Minor Hurling final

Sarsfields 1-22 St Colman's 2-6

Sarsfields are through to the Premier 1 minor hurling championship final following their win over St Colman's at the Mardyke on Thursday night.

From start to finish, they were the better side and never looked like losing as they bid to go one better than last year when they lost to Glen Rovers. On this performance, they will be hard to beat in the final as they are strong all over the pitch, with Eoin Considine and Rory Higgins outstanding in defence. Up front Adam Dunlea, Tom Huggins and Cathal Galvin were a constant threat..

U16 Huggins opened the scoring for Sars, but their lead didn’t last long. From their first attack, Colman's found the back of the net when a long ball in from Alex Noble was flicked to the back of the net by Adam Lee, a Cork minor last year.

Huggins replied for Sars, with Cathal Galvin also on target to see the sides level after 11 minutes, 0-3 to 1-0. Galvin was on target again, and two from Adam Dunlea made it 0-7 to 1-1, with Daniel Walsh getting the point for Colmans.

Then Sars upped their game and started to take over, with Dunlea, Huggins, and Galvin all scoring to extend their lead. Galvin looked like scoring a goal for them, but his effort was brilliantly saved by Conor Williams to deny him a green flag.

Finn O’Connor and Huggins (2) opened up a nine-point gap. Walsh pointed for Colman's, and Dunlea had the final say to leave it 0-15 to 1-3 at the break.

Sars started the second half as they finished the first, with Huggins adding to their tally. A free from Dunlea increased their lead, and he was on target again to push them further ahead.

With 40 minutes played any chance of a comeback was well and truly gone when Dunlea found the back of the net: 1-19 to 1-3. Darragh Heavin pulled a goal back for Colmans late on, but it was no more than a consolation score.

Scorers for Sarsfields: A Dunlea 1-12 (0-7 f), T Huggins 0-4, C Galvin 0-3, F O’Connor, B O’Mahony, E Considine 0-1 each.

St Colmans: A Lee 1-2, D Walsh 0-3 (0-2 f), D Heavin 1-0, S Murtagh 0-1.

SARSFIELDS: F O’Donovan; T O’Flynn, K Murphy, J Tierney; E Considine, R Higgins, M Hurley; C Condon, J McNamara; H Cogan, A Dunlea, S Sheehan; T Huggins, F O’Connor, C Galvin.

Subs: A Leahy for F O’Connor (40), R Boyle for K Murphy (42), B O’Mahony for T Huggins (42), C Fennessy for J McNamara (51), C Long for C Galvin (55).

St COLMAN'S: C Williams; C Heavin, T Cronin, C Gleeson; D Cahill, R O’Connell, T O’Reilly; L Fitzgerald, D Cummins; Y Hallahan, S Murtagh, A Noble; D Walsh, A Lee, D Heavin.

Subs: A Illukovic for C Heavin, K Archer for Y Hallahan (both ht), C O’Brien for D Cummins (51).

Referee: Niall Fahy (Brian Dillons).