Champions Belgooly outgun Shamrocks in South East Junior A Hurling opener

Belgooly 1-22 Shamrocks 0-16 

Belgooly proved far too strong for a gallant Shamrocks side in the Ross Oil SE Junior A Hurling Championship at Minane Bridge on Friday night.

A game dominated by Barry Dwyer and Ryan Long in the first half will long be remembered for a treble save by David Herlihy five minutes into the second half. It seemed to stir his side into action as they fought back into the contest, with tempers flaring, but Belgooly settled to take the victory.

Shamrocks were first out of the blocks as James Lynam opened their account, but the evergreen Barry Dwyer responded. Three points followed in quick succession as Dwyer, Eddie Corkery and Ryan Long had Belgooly in front by 0-4 to 0-1.

Josh Bartle grabbed a point but Kevin Fitzgerald and Dwyer clipped scores at the other end. It was 0-6 to 0-4, thanks to Bartle and a fine individual effort from Darragh Scriven.

However, Dwyer (2) and Long gave the favourites a five-point lead on 24 minutes.

Fitzgerald almost had a goal, but Herlihy produced a great save. The Belgooly man made amends minutes later as he sent over a superb point. 

Another free from Dwyer and a Long effort extended Belgooly’s lead to 0-12 to 0-4.

The second half saw Barry Dwyer score a goal after Shamrocks had given themselves a slim bit of hope through Scriven. An exchange of scores, including a Cian Lynch free, had the score at 1-13 to 0-7 on 34 minutes, as Herlihy produced another fabulous stop from Long.

With Dwyer keeping the champions ticking over with another point, the Shamrocks keeper produced three outrageous saves in a row, two from Fitzgerald and one from Dwyer.

David Andrews, home on holidays from Australia but available for one game, pointed as the lead was cut to 1-15 to 0-10.

However, the champions pulled away after hitting four consecutive points to lead 1-19 to 0-10 on 53 minutes and weren't going to be caught from there.

Scorers for Belgooly: B Dwyer 1-11 (0-6 f, 0-2 65), K Fitzgerald 0-6, R Long 0-4, E Corkery 0-1.

Shamrocks: C Lynch 0-8 (0-7 f), D Scriven 0-2, C Hayes, M Hitchmough, J Bartle, J Lynam, D Andrews, D O’Flaherty 0-1 each.

SHAMROCKS: D Herlihy; G Ronayne; F Herlihy; K May; B O’Mahony; M Hitchmough; A McCarthy; C Hayes; R Barre; S Foy; D Scriven; J Bartle; J Lynam; D Andrews; C Lynch.

Sub: D O'Flaherty for J Lynam (45).

BELGOOLY: J Dwyer; J O’Sullivan; T O’Donovan; D Walsh; C O’Sullivan; N O’Sullivan; L Walsh; C O’Donovan; B Dwyer; K Fitzgerald; R Long; E Corkery; E Lynch; M Kenny; S Kiely.

Subs: F Walsh for E Corkery (29), Ger Kiely for D Walsh (55), L O'Riordan for M Kenny (56), A Grant for N O'Sullivan (60).

Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan, Valley Rovers.