Daniel O'Connell and Johnny Murphy shine as Dromina beat Ballyhooly to lift Junior A crown
Celebration time for Dromina after their Avondhu Junior A hurling final success. Picture: John Hannon
Dromina landed the Hibernian Hotel JAHC title for the first time since 2017 when they emerged worthy winners over Ballyhooly at Killavullen.
As was the case nine years ago, Ballyhooly were the opposition but Dromina were on the front foot throughout. They did have to fend off a late rally but Dromina keeper Daniel O'Connell made two excellent saves, including a penalty.
Dromina are reaping the reward of underage success with a number of their players involved in Shandrum's U21 county last year. Cork U20 Johnny Murphy showed his class with 0-6 from play on Saturday with the likes of Chris Dunne and Bobby Carroll also prominent.
In a cagey opening half, Dromina were first into the action with Davie Jones (3) and Murphy putting them into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead by the 11th minute. Ballyhooly, who found it hard to make headway, gradually found their composure.
A mistake in the Dromina defence saw Seamus Roche get through but his effort from a tight angle struck the side netting. Nevertheless, points by Barry Johnson and Diarmuid Linehan trimmed the gap to the minimum.
Man of the Match Murphy struck an excellent point before Ballyhooly grabbed the only goal of the game in the 21st minute when Diarmuid Linehan's effort for a point came back off the post before Seamus Roche picked out Darragh Whelan to net, 1-3 to 0-5.
Jones levelled proceedings with a 65 with Linehan and Murphy trading points, deadlocked at 1-4 to 0-7 in the 27th minute. Dromina moved ahead before the break when Jack Morrissey offloaded to Chris Dunne.
Ballyhooly were left to regret their missed chances in this period, as they had eight wides to Dromina's four.
The third quarter belonged to Dromina with Conor Shanahan, Murphy, Dunne, Jones, Carroll and the Buckley brothers in devastating form. Their authority on the scoreboard was reflected as they led 0-15 to 1-4 in the 39th minute.
With the pressure on, Ballyhooly threw caution to the wind. Three points on the spin by Linehan, Barry Johnson and Mark Burdett closed the gap to five. Just when they seemed to be back in the tie, Dromina rose to the challenge once again and they cancelled out the Ballyhooly points when Diarmuid Buckley (2) and Luke Morrissey were on target.
Ballyhooly refused to give in and another push in the last quarter saw James Roche (3) and Brian Lombard narrow the deficit to 0-19 to 1-11.
Sub Luke Morrissey grabbed his second point in the 54th minute when he split the posts from near the sideline for Dromina to ease the tension.
With time running out, Ballyhooly went in search of goals. A penalty by Barry Johnson was excellently saved by Dromina keeper O'Connell. Then the Dromina netminder came to the rescue when he saved a pile-driver from Lombard.
Late points by Darragh O'Reilly and Brian Lombard left four between the teams at the end but there was no denying Dromina.
D Jones 0-6 (0-3 65, 0-2 f), J Murphy 0-6, D Buckley 0-3, C Dunne 0-2, L Morrissey 0-2, B Buckley 0-1.
D Linehan 0-4 (0-3 f, 0-1 65), J Roche 0-3 f, D Whelan 1-0, B Lombard 0-2, B Johnson 0-2 f, M Burdett, D O'Reilly 0-1 each.
D O'Connell; B Farrissey, C Shanahan, J Morrissey; D Cagney, M Buckley, K Cagney; B Carroll, P Burke; C Dunne, D Jones, B Buckley; D Buckley, J Morrissey, J Murphy.
P Hassett for C Shanahan (blood), C Shanahan for P Hassett, L Morrissey for J Morrissey, C Finn for D Cagney, B Murray for P Burke, P Hassett for K Cagney.
B Johnson; PJ Powell, P Ahern, E Buckley; D Collins, S Linehan, E Sykes; G Roche, M Burdett; S Ahern, D Linehan, K Kiely; S Roche, J Roche, D Whelan.
B Lombard for K Kiely, D Roche for D Whelan, D O'Reilly for G Roche, L McCarthy for S Ahern, P Hanrahan for S Roche.
Ciaran Murphy (Glanworth).
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