Senior Hurling League

Friday March 17th. 

Blackrock 2 - 17    Fr. O'Neill's 1 – 18 @ Church Road

Report:  Roger Ryan

Our Senior Hurlers picked up a further 2 points in the current Red FM S.H.L. with a narrow victory over Fr.O'Neill's at Church Road this morning. Leading at half time by 8 points (1 - 10 to 0 - 05), we increased that lead to 10 points midway through the second half when we grabbed our second goal, 2 - 12 to 0 - 08. We were ahead by 5 points with victory in sight when Fr.O'Neill's converted a penalty to reduce our lead to a dangerous 2 points. With 2 further points they levelled up, but the last two points went to us to leave the final score 2 - 17 to 1 - 18. Thankfully the rain that fell in the early morning had abated and the sun even shone. Despite a lot of recent damage by crows, the main pitch was in excellent condition after a lot of remedial work by the grounds Committee.

Fr. O'Neills opened the scoring with a point but this was soon cancelled out by John Cashman. Tadhg Deasy the put us ahead with a point but Fr. O'Neills scored the next two to go ahead again 0 - 02 to 0 – 03. Daniel Meaney soon had us back on level terms again with an excellent point. Fr. O'Neills went ahead with the next point but our boys upped the anti then and point's from Kevin O'Keeffe, Mark O'Keeffe, Kevin again, Mike O'Halloran, Kevin and Robbie Cotter had us ahead by 5 points 0 – 09 to 0 – 04. Fr. O'Neills responded well and forced a super save from Gavin Connolly after they had breached our defence and had to settle for a point 0 – 09 to 0 – 05. Tadhg Deasy then took off on one of his scorching runs and planted the sliothar out of the goalies reach for our first goal. Mike O'Halloran closed out the scoring for the first half with a point leaving the half-time score at Rockies 1 – 10. Fr.O'Neills 0 – 05.

Fr. O'Neills were first off the mark again at the resumption of the second half with a point and soon followed with a further point to reduce the lead to 6 points. Tadhg Deasy then split the posts for the next 2 points and following some excellent inter-play David O'Farrell was available for the final pass to crash the sliothar home for our second goal. We were motoring well now with the score at 2 – 12 to 0 – 07. Fr. O'Neills with the next 3 points on the trot reduced the score to 2 – 12 to 0 – 10 but Robbie Cotter then added a point for us. This was followed by a point from Fr. O'Neills which was equalled by a similar score3 from Robbie Cotter. With the score now at 2 – 14 to 0 – 11, Fr. O'Neills went on a scoring spree and put over the next 4 points to reduce our lead to 5 points 2 – 14 to 0 – 15. Our next point by Kevin was equalled by one from Fr.O'Neills and we still had the 5 points advantage when disaster struck and Fr.O'Neills were awarded a penalty which they converted to reduce our lead to 2 – 15 to 1 – 16. Sensing victory, Fr.O'Neills pushed hard and were rewarded with the next 2 points to reach parity and full time approaching. Thankfully our boys steadied the ship and Kevin O'Keeffe with a converted free and a point from play, put us ahead by 21 points as the Ref called full time with the scoreboard reading Blackrock 2 – 17 Fr.O'Neills 1 – 18. Job well done and a further 2 league points in the bag.

Following his recent good showing against Inniscarra, Eoin Smith was again in top form. Our half back line of John Cashman, Ciarán Cormack and Daniel Meaney was rock solid. Dave O'Farrell at centre field took his goal with aplomb and his partner Kevin O'Keeffe was in excellent shooting form as usual.

Scorers: Tadhg Deasy 1 – 03, Kevin O'Keeffe 0 – 06(03f), Robbie Cotter 0 – 03, David O'Farrell 1 – 00, Michael O'Halloran 0 – 02, John Cashman 0 – 01, Mark O'Keeffe 0 – 01, Daniel Meaney 0 – 01.

Team: Gavin Connolly, Eoin Smith, Gary Norberg, Richie Laide, John Cashman, Ciarán Cormack, Daniel Meaney, David O'Farrell, Kevin O'Keeffe, Shane O'Keeffe, Tadhg Deasy, Ian O'Keeffe, Mark O'Keeffe, Michael O'Halloran, Robbie Cotter. Subs Used: Darragh Browne, Ryan Sweeney, Fionn Coleman, Luke O'Donovan


Referee: Shane Scanlon, Newcestown.