Fri. April 18th. SHL

Blackrock 2 – 28 V 2 – 16 Carrigtwohill @ Church Road.

Report by Roger Ryan

Following two previous wins, our Senior Hurlers continued their upward trajectory in the Red FM League with a comprehensive victory over Carrigtwohill at Church Road on Friday evening, amassing the huge total of 2 goals and 28 points over the hour. The dull conditions and fading light certainly didn't hamper the style of play and both teams served up a cracking game of hurling.

Kevin O'Keeffe and Stephen Murphy got us up and running with a point each before Carrig' registered their first point. Ryan Sweeney and Stephen extended our lead with a further 2 points before Carrig' breached our defence for a goal and reduced our lead to 1 point, 0 – 05 to 1 – 01. Robbie's next 2 points were split by a point from Carrig to leav e it at 0 – 07 to 1 – 02. Carrig' then went ahead with 3 unanswered points but Robbie soon had us back on level terms with a point, 0 – 08 to 1 – 05. Carrig' again breached our defence for their second goal on the 20th minute to forge ahead by 3 points. They extended that lead to 5 witrh a further 2 points but Fionn Coleman pot an end to that rout when he barged his way through for a trademark strike to the net. The score now stood at 1 – 08 to 2 – 07 but Carrig' added a point to lead by 3 as the break approached. Determined not to finish the half behind, our boys had the next 4 points on the trot to close out the first half in the lead by 1 point, 1 – 12 to 2 – 08.

The second half had barely begun when Robbie latched on to a well placed pass, rounded 2 defenders and inm a flash had the ball nestling in the back of the net for one of the best goals seen at the venue in quite a while. That put us 4 ahead but the best was yet to come as first Kevin the Robbie added one more to extend our lead to 6. A Carrig' point was followed by a similar score from Niall and Ryan Sweeney. Carrig had a point and John O'Sullivan joined the fray. Carrig' reduced our lead to 5 points and Diarmuid Cormack and Joe Golden were introduced as subs. Carrig' came within 4 points of us with a point and we brought on Ciarán Cormack. Our boys went on a scoring spree at this stage and points flowed from the caman's of Kevin, Robbie, Fionn, Robbie and Daniel. This gave us a healthy lead of 9 points with the score at 2 – 21 to 2 – 12. Carrig' had the next 2 points and Ian O'Keeffe made an appearance. Ryan Sweeney, Gavin Connolly, Robbie, John O'Sullivan and Ryan Sweeney all added a point each to increase the score to 2 – 26 to 2 – 14. Eoin O'Farrell, Fionn O'Keeffe and Elliot Cantwell then cantered out for a piece of the action. Fionn O'Keeffe and Niall Cashman closed out the scoring with a point each to leave us comfortable winners by 12 points on a total score of Rockies 2 – 28, Carrig' 2 – 16.

Scorers: Robbie Cotter 1 – 07, Ryan Sweeney 0 – 05(02f), Kevin O'Keeffe 0 – 04, Fionn Coleman 1 – 01, Niall Cashman 0 – 03, Stephen Murphy 0 – 03, Daniel Meaney 0 – 02, Gavin Connolly 0 – 01(f), John O'Sullivan 0 – 01, Fionn O'Keeffe 0 – 01.

Team: Gavin Connolly, Jamie Ryan, Cathal Cormack, Gary Norberg, Lee O'Sullivan, Stephen Murphy, Alan O'Callaghan, Niall Cashman, David O'Farrell, Fionn Coleman, Kevin O'Keeffe, Daniel Meaney, Ryan Sweeney, Robbie Cotter, Peter Linehan.

Subs Used: John O'Sullivan, Diarmuid Cormack, Ciarán Cormack, Joe Golden, Elliot Cantwell, Ian O'Keeffe, Fionn O'Keeffe, Eoin O'Farrell.

Referee: Cathal Mc Allister.