Champions Whitechurch battle back from eight points down to defeat St Vincent's on penalties

Whitechurch 4-22 St Vincent’s 2-28 (3-0 pens)

Defending champions Whitechurch have qualified for the AOS Security Seandún Junior A Hurling Championship decider, after their semi-final against St. Vincent’s required extra time and penalties to decide the outcome.

Whitechurch will meet Na Piarsaigh in the final.

Vincent’s led by eight points at the interval, but Whitechurch brought themselves back into the contest with four goals. The Saints then led by a point at the break in extra time, while it took a last-gasp free by Whitechurch’s Mark Callanan to send the tie to penalties.

Both sides exchanged pointed frees before Whitechurch’s Cillian Egan got the game’s first score from play.

Luke Callanan converted a 65 for St Vincent’s to tie the scores at two points apiece. Vincent’s continued to have Whitechurch pinned back and Cormac O’Neill set up Sean Daly for the game’s opening goal in the seventh minute.

Jamie Heagrty pointed a sideline cut for Whitechurch before Vincent’s seized the initiative. They got five points, to stretch the margin to 1-7 to 0-3.

Whitechurch responded with four points before Vincent’s added five points without reply. Hegarty exchanged points from play with Luke Callanan. This left them leading by 1-13 to 0-8 at the interval.

Three minutes into the second half, Daly capitalised on a defensive error by Whitechurch to score St Vincent’s second goal. Luke Callanan converted his second 65 and Daly nailed a free, before the tide turned in Whitechurch’s favour.

Killian McIntyre and Sean Keane each got goals in a four-minute spell. Keane and Darragh O’Connell also added points from play. Hegarty converted his second free. This left Whitechurch trailing by four points.

Vincent’s added two pointed frees, before McIntyre completed his hat-trick with two goals in two minutes in the final quarter. This left the scoreline reading 2-19 to 4-12 in favour of St Vincent’s.

Whitechurch outscored St Vincent’s by three points to two to send the game into extra time.

Both sides scored four points each in the first period of extra time. Blake Murphy pointed his fourth free to give Vincent’s a 2-26 to 4-19 interval lead.

St Vincent’s outscored Whitechurch by two points to one from play in the final period of extra time. Hegarty converted his fourth free to leave Whitechurch a point in arrears, to set the scene for the equaliser.

Scorers for Whitechurch: K McIntyre 3-0, J Hegarty 0-8 (0-4 f, 0-1 sl), S Keane 1-3, D O’Connell 0-5, D Kelleher 0-3, C Egan 0-2, M Callanan 0-1 f.

St Vincent’s: S Daly 2-8 (0-4 f), L Callanan 0-7 (0-2 65, 0-1 f), B Murphy 0-6 (0-4 f), Ajay Murphy 0-3, J Donovan, T Broderick, G McCarthy, A Harte 0-1 each.

WHITECHURCH: J Kelleher; R O’Connell, Adam Murphy, J Kelleher; K Ryan, M Callanan, R Blake; S O’Reilly, C Egan; A Kelleher, R Murphy, J Hegarty; D O’Sullivan, D O’Connell, D Kelleher.

Subs: K McIntyre for Kelleher (h-t), C Kelleher for O’Reilly (35); S Keane for O’Sullivan (37), R Dennehy for McIntyre (55, inj), C Hennessy for C Kelleher (60, inj), C O’Brien for R Dennehy (70), O’Reilly for Hegarty (78, inj).

ST VINCENT'S: R Fielding; C Dennehy, C Desmond, S O’Leary; T Broderick, Cian O’Neill, A Harte; L Callanan, A Higgins; S Daly, B Murphy, J Donovan; G McCarthy, Ajay Murphy, Cormac O’Neill.

Subs: K Sorensen for C Dennehy (14), K O’Connor for Ajay Murphy (41), J O’Mahony for Desmond (49), J Collins for Cian O’Neill (57), D Butler for O’Mahony (67), J Galvin for O’Connor (72), C Walker for Cormac O’Neill (76, inj).

Referee: Cormac Dineen (Douglas).