Junior Hurling League (1) Semi-Final
Thur. May 22nd

Blackrock 2 – 11 V Whitechurch 1 – 11  @ Church Road.​

 

Report:  Roger Ryan

Displaying all the resilience and fighting spirit that have been the hallmark of the competition to-date, our Junior Hurlers withstood a late onslaught by Whitechurch to emerge winners by 3 points in the semi-final of the AOS J.H.L.(1) at Church Road on Wed evening. 

Following a very exciting first half he held a slender lead of 2 points, Rockies 1 – 07, Whitechurch 0 – 08.

Diarmuid Cormack opened the scoring with our first point and when Whitechurch equalised James Allen burst through the defense for a great goal. Whitechurch hit back with 2 points and James Allen with a point increased our lead to 2 points, 1 – 02 to 0 – 03. Our goalie Darragh Murphy then sent two long-range frees sailing between the posts to push us 4 ahead. Whitechurch had a point and Darragh converted another mighty free to restore our 4 points advantage, 1 – 05 to 0 – 04. Whitechurch then struck back strongly and 3 points on the trot just left the minimum between us. Diarmuid Cormack then got his second point and Luke Fogarty chipped in with a point to put us ahead by 3 with half time looming. Whitechurch closed out the half with a point to leave the score at 1 – 07 to 0 – 08 at the short whistle.

James Allen increased our lead to 3 points and Nathan Adams with a neat flick over the approaching the keeper, scored our second goal. Fionn O'Keeffe then added a point to give us a nice cushion of 7 points, 2 – 09 to 0 – 08. James Allen increased this to 8 with a point but Whitechurch struck back with a vengeance and scored 3 points which they followed up with a defence splitting goal. Excitement had reached fever pitch at this stage and despite the rain which fell, both sides went at it full tilt for victory. Whitechurch made a few determined efforts to gain the vital scores but our boys proved equal to the task and repelled all boarders. James Allen was fouled going through and when he converted the free for a point, the Ref blew for full time with the score at 2 – 11 to 1 – 11. This was a mighty team effort overall but Dan Tyner, Diarmuid and Sean Cormck, James Allen and Darragh Murphy are worthy of special mention. We look forward to the final against Passage.

Scorers: 1 – 04(03f), Nathan Adams 1 – 00, Darragh Murphy 0 – 03(03f), Diarmuid Cormack 0 – 02, Luke Fogarty 0 – 01, Fionn O'Keeffe 0 – 01.

Team: Darragh Murphy, Jack O'Brien, Sean Cormack, Tom Harrington, Ronan Buckley, Dara O'Brien, Kevin Morgan, Dan Tyner, Diarmuid Cormack, Nathan Adams, Luke Fogarty, Paddy Lynch, Fionn O'Keeffe, James Allen, David Garvan.

Subs Used: Dean Mc Carthy, Peter Cotter.

Referee: Mark Maher.