Junior Hurling (B) Rathpeacon Cup Final  
Sun. March 3rd. 2024

Rockies 2 - 16 V Glen Rovers 5 - 08.  @ Church Road

Report:  Roger ryan

Following a great game of hurling, our Junior B Hurlers were defeated by the narrowest of margins at Church Road today in the final of the Rathpeacon Cup. Conor Sweeney got us off to a flying start with a goal but The Glen soon equalised. Eoin Coughlan then edged us ahead with a point and Luke Fogarty added a point before the Glen had their second goal to lead by a point 1. - 02 to 2 - 00. The Glen added their third goal to stretch their lead to 4 points with their third goal before Eoin Coughlan with 2 points and Vaughan Ryan with 1 point reduced their lead to 1 point. Eoin Browne with a goal then had us ahead again by 2 points when he found the back of the net for our second goal. The score now read Rockies 2 - 05, The Glen 3 - 00 with 15 minutes on the clock. Conor Sweeney added a point and Eoin Coughlan added 2 more points to stretch our lrad to 5 points, Rockies 2 - 08, Glen 3 - 00. The Glen with 3 points on the trot reduced that lead to 2 points but Lorcan De Búrca and Luke Fogarty closed out the half with 1 point each to restore our lead to 4 points as the Ref blew for half-time with the score at Rockies 2 - 10, Glen Rovers 3 - 03.

Colamáin Ó Ruséil was introduced for the second half. Vaughan Ryan stretched our lead to 5 points, 2 - 11 to 3 - 03, but Glen replied with the next 2 points to leave us ahead by 3. Vaughan Ryan stretched that lead to 4 points with the next score and Henry Donnelly and David Walsh were introduced as subs. That lead was increased to 6 points when Colamáin Ó Ruiséal and Lorcan De Búrca added a point each to leave the score at 2 - 14 to 3 - 05. The Glen went on a scoring spree at this stage and scored 1 Goal and 2 points to take the lead by 1 point. 2 - 14 to 5 - 06. Excitement was at fever pitch at this point as with time running out, Colamáin scored the levelling point 2 - 15 to 5 - 06. The Glen edged ahead with the next point but Eoin Coughlan proved unerring with a free to equalise, 2 - 16 to 5 - 07. We were on added time at this point and when The Glen converted a late free for a point The Ref called time, leaving us trailing by 1 point, Rockies 2 - 16, Glen Rovers 5 - 08. It was cruel luck to go out by such a narrow margin but great credit is due to both teams for turning in an outstanding performance so early in the season. It certainly augurs well for the coming season, particularly as we have such large panels of players at our disposal.

Scorers: Eoin Coughlan 0 - 06(02f), Conor Sweeney 1 - 01, Eoin Browne 1 - 00, Vaughan Ryan 0 - 03, Luke Fogarty 0 - 02, Lorcan De Búrca 0 - 02, Colamáin Ó Ruiséal 0 - 02.

Team: Darragh Murphy, James Ryan, Gerry Boland, Dara Cronin, Kevin Morgan, Ronan Buckley, Mark O'Connell, Luke Fogarty, Jack O'Sullivan, Brian O'Leary, Vaughan Ryan, Eoin Coughlan, Eoin Browne, Conor Sweeney, Lorcan De Búrca, Subs Used: Colamáin Ó Ruiséal, Henry Donnelly, David Walsh.

Referee: James Murphy.