Junior A Hurling League
Thur. May 18th 2023 

Blackrock 4 – 14 V Brian Dillons 0 – 17  @ Church Road

Report:  Roger ryan

By defeating Brian Dillons in the Junior Hurling League at Church Road on Thursday night our boys not only pulled off a great victory, they created their own little bit of history as well, because this was the first time our boys had beaten them in many, many years. Nobody I spoke to could remember the last time we beat them, so well done to all concerned for a historic victory. This was a great overall performance by the team, one that needed every player to give of his best, and they duly responded.

Following an exchange of pointed frees by Brian Dillons and James Allen, the visitors scored the following 3 points to surge ahead by 3. Paul Bennett halted their progress with a point for us but they then scored a further 3 points to lead on the score of Rockies 0 – 02, Brian Dillons 0 – 07. Jamed Allen then came to our rescue with 4 points, two from play and two from placed balls, to put a far more respectable look on the scoreboard as we headed towards half time 0 – 06 to 0 – 07. A Brian Dillons point was answered by a similar score from James Allen to bring the score to 0 – 07 to 0 – 08 as the Ref blew for the break.

Eoin De Burca made his appearance for the second half and straight away David Garvan scored a point to bring us back to parity. A further exchange of point's kept us level but our boys were certainly showing greater determination now and when Jack O'Farrell rattled the net for our first goal, things were definitely looking better. James Walsh then scored our second goal to give us a nice cushion of 6 points 2 – 09 to 0 – 09. David Tyner and Barry Grainger entered the fray at this point. Brian Dillons came back strongly with the next 3 points to reduce our lead to 3 but this was short-lived as David Garvan scored our third goal to put us ahead by 6 points 3 – 09 to 0 – 12. James Allens next point was followed by one from Brian Dillons before Lee O'Sullivan and James Allen scored a point each to leave the score at Rockies 3 – 12, Brian Dillons 0 – 13. Brian Dillons next point was quickly followed by one from Eoin De Burca as Paul O'Brien joined the squad. A point from Brian Dillons brought the score to 3 – 13 to 0 – 15 and this was quickly followed by our fourth goal from James Allen. With time running out Brian Dillons converted two frees and James Allen closed out the game with the final point to give us a historic victory on the score of Rockies 4 – 14, Brian Dillons 0 – 17.

Scorers: James Allen James Allen 1 – 10(07f) David Garvan 1 – 01, Jack O'Farrell 1 – 00, James Walsh 1 – 00, Paul Bennett 0 – 01, Lee O'Sullivan 0 – 01, Eoin De Burca 0 – 01.

Team: Dara Murphy, Jack O'Brien, Dara O'Brien, Scott O'Sullivan, Kevin Morgan, Paul Bennett, Darragh Browne, Robert Cregan, Emmett Sheehan, Luke Kiely. James Allen, Jack O'Farrell, Seamus Walsh, Nathan Adams, David Garvan. Subs Used: Eoin De Burca, Daniel Tyner, Barry Grainger, Paul O'Brien.

Referee: Frank O'Dwyer.