Na Piarsaigh earn the bragging rights with victory over St Vincent's in the Seandún Junior A Hurling Championship
Referee Cormac Dineen accompanied by captains Michael Sheehan (Na Piarsiagh) & Anthony Harte (St. Vincent's)
Last year’s beaten finalists Na Piarsaigh, got their AOS Security Seandún Junior A Hurling Championship campaign off to a winning start, as they defeated St. Vincent’s, before a good-sized attendance, in their opener at Ballinlough on Sunday.
This was an open game, which produced six goals.
Na Piarsaigh scored their three goals in the opening half, while St. Vincent’s staged a late second half rally, which yielded two goals.
Na Piarsaigh had points from play by Shane Galgey and Alan Keating on the board within two minutes of the throw-in.
St. Vincent’s opened their account in the fourth minute, when Adrian Murphy set up Luke Callanan for the game’s opening goal, which gave St. Vincent’s the lead.
Callanan added two further points, while Keating responded with his second point for the Fair Hill side.
Na Piarsaigh regained the initiative in the seventh minute as Michael Sheehan won possession from a Na Piarsaigh puck-out, to score his side’s first goal. This left the Fair Hill side leading 1-3 to 1-2.
Na Piarsaigh’s Keith Buckley exchanged points with Callanan. This was followed by an equalising point for St. Vincent’s by Keith Sorensen.
The Fair Hill side regained the lead in the 12th minute when Jamie Morrissey set up Sheehan for his second goal.
Adrian Murphy and Callanan exchanged points with Na Piarsaigh’s Morrissey and Keating entering the second quarter.
The Fair Hill side stretched the margin to six points, when Buckley embarked on a solo run, to set up Morrissey for Na Piarsaigh’s third goal. This gave Na Piarsaigh a lead of 3-6 to 1-6.
For the remainder of the opening half, St. Vincent’s outscored the Fair Hill side by five points to four.
Stephen O’Leary, Sean Daly, Trevor Broderick and Blake Murphy each got points from play for St. Vincent’s.
Sean Daly also converted the only free of the opening half Keating replied with two points for Na Piarsaigh.
Sean Paul Cooke and Cillian O’Leary also got a point each.
This left the scoreline reading 3-10 to 1-11 in favour of Na Piarsaigh at the interval.
With the elements in their favour for the second half, Na Piarsaigh had St. Vincent’s pinned back.
Peter Lehane, Cooke and Sheehan each tagged on points for the Fair Hill side. Keating also converted a 65.
St. Vincent’s responded with a hat-trick of points from play by Sean Daly.
Entering the final quarter, Sheehan tagged on a point for Na Piarsaigh.
Following a Na Piarsaigh puck-out, their net-minder Cian O’Brien was credited with a point.
Cormac O’Neill replied with a point for St. Vincent’s.
The Fair Hill side had St. Vincent’s on the defensive as Sheehan slotted over two unanswered points. Morrissey also added a point from play and Keating pointed a 65.
With the game over as a contest, St. Vincent’s refused to give up without a struggle. They staged a late rally, which yielded two goals in as many minutes from Blake Murphy and Jamie O’Donovan.
Both sides traded points from frees in stoppage time. Keating pointed for Na Piarsaigh, before Blake Murphy replied for St. Vincent’s, with the last puck of the game.
M Sheehan 2-4; A Keating 0-8 (0-2 65, 0-1f); J Morrissey 1-2; SP Cooke 0-2; S Galgey, C O’Leary, K Buckley, P Lehane, C O’Brien 0-1 each.
L Callanan 1-5; B Murphy 1-2 (0-1f); Sean Daly 0-5 (0-1f); J O’Donovan 1-0; C O’Neill, T Broderick, S O’Leary, A Murphy, K Sorensen 0-1 each.
C O’Brien; E Cronin, K Power, J Scanalan; C Joyce, P Cunningham, G Joyce; SP Cooke, J Morrissey; A Keating, S Galgey, K Buckley; P Lehane, M Sheehan, C O’Leary.
S O’Connell for C O’Leary (44), Salim Daly for Cronin (53), J McGarth for Scanlan (59).
R Fielding; S O’Leary, J O’Mahony, D Butler; T Broderick, A Sorensen, J Jones; A Harte, B Murphy; C O’Neill, L Callanan, K Sorensen; A Murphy, Sean Daly, J O’Donovan.
C Desmond for O’Mahony (35), A O’Donoghue for A Murphy (43).
Cormac Dineen (Douglas).
App?
