5 days is a long time in hurling.Doon incredibly beat the Well
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The Limerick county championships are only getting box officer.
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Kilmallock 1-19 Ahane 1-12
Madness really. Fair play to Doon tbf, that shows spirit. Pity that wasnât streamed too, wouldnât mind watching that back.
Classic Doon in itâs own way
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In a spursy type of way? #doonsy
Shane O Brien is Aaron Gillane 2.0
He will take Flanaganâs place next year.
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From a neutral pov youâd have been hoping Doon would lose again to give Ahane & KP hope.
Killmallock basically through already. Back to laps for ye @balbec
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Just back from Caherelly.
Nick Grene Sportsground Maintenance intermediate hurling championship Group 2 Round 2 RESULT.
Knockainey 1-19 Croom 0-10.
Fresh from a heavy defeat four days ago, the All Blacks responded in emphatic fashion to ignite their title credentials. A slow start, with most scores from placed balls before a Padraic Barron goal put daylight between the sides at break, following on from a free advantage a terrific cross field pass found the inrushing Barron and he drilled home from outside the â21. A couple of points after that had it 1-09 to 0-06 at the break.
Any slim chance of a Croom comeback evaporated on the restart as a succession of quick early scores killed it as a contest. The Knockainey defence totally dominated throughout, Finch full back and all the half back line. Even the loss of Jack OâGrady through injury early in the second half didnât affect them too much.
Up front the lively Jason Lonergan did a lot of damage in the corner, finishing with four or five from play. He got ample support from Mikey OâGrady and Donal Madden. By all accounts Knockainey were stunned after their opening day defeat but Eddie Murphyâs charges were very slick this evening, and will have a big say in the championship yet.
For Croom, itâs two defeats from two and the year has an ominous feel to it. They battled hard, Ryan OâShea and Skippy Sexton led the fight but it was an uphill fight. Most of their scores came from frees, just lacked scorers in attack. The old warhorse Lucey did all he could be they were second best.
Still think theyâll have too much to avoid the drop against whoever they might face from the other group in a potential relegation scrap but with games to come against Feohanagh and Murroe Boher there could be more pain imminent in the short term.
There must be a crazy amount of Sliotars lost behind that goal with the ditch but no net, every year. A rake of balls lost tonight alone.
Box Office night in the intermediate championship tomorrow evening with a heap of games on at the same time. The shape of both groups should be a bit clearer then. Something has to give between Croagh and Knockaderry in Group 1 as both sides have a 100% record. Ditto G/B v Feohanagh in Group 2.
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What age is Skippy?
Skippy is definitely in his mid 30s
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Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship in Askeaton: Newcastlewest 0-24 Dromin/Athlacca 0-16
In the end, it was a little bit of an anticlimax but Newcastlewest got their first points on the board at the third attempt and were impressive as they did so. In reality, this game was won in the first half because, against the wind, they held a 5-point lead and although Dromin/Athlacca got the first score of the second half, NCW then reeled off three-in-a-row and they never really looked bac from there.
Right from the off, they looked more tuned-in, hungrier, etc. than their opponents. They are buzzwords but they simply worked harder than Dromin/Athlacca, they were slicker with their passing, they werenât fumbling balls and every little thing they did right was being roared on by a very vocal sideline. D/A, on the other hand, just seemed to be going through the motions a little bit in the first half. They were second to a lot of 50/50s, they were making basic errors and they were punished for them.
They never really made the use of the wind advantage; in fact, it almost seemed to work against them as Robbie Breenâs puckouts were landing over the heads of their half-forward line but not exactly into the path of their full-forward line. It led to the likes of Michael Cremin, Todd Donovan and John Whelan sweeping up a lot of ball and they generally had options ahead in the form of Ruadhan OâConnor, Bryan Nix and Brian Hurley; all who got through a lot of work.
NCW lined out with their 15 from the programme but with one slight positional adjustment, Ethan Hurley pushing on to midfield, Todd Donovan slipping into half-back and Michael Cremin moving to centre-back. Mike Mac was named at 14 but came out around the middle as an extra man, leaving Con Hayes and Eoin Hurley inside and they were able to isolate the two dangerman two-on-two inside with space in front. Basically, all the setup stuff went in NCWâs favour, the game was played on their terms and D/A struggled to get their main men on the ball.
Nix in particular caused havoc in the first half, getting one of the scores of the game early on when he beat a man, then looked like he had taken too much out of it with no catches left before skinning another man with his pace and shooting off the stick on his left side. He also won a couple of frees, as did Brian Hurley on the other wing whose direct running punctured holes in the D/A defence every single time. And the movement of Hayes & Hurley caused the Dromin/Athlacca full-back line all sorts of problems. Willie Dore, the Limerick U-20 corner-back, was at full-back and he followed Mike Mac out the field when maybe he would have been better off matching up against one of the speed merchants inside. He did score an inspirational point himself in the first half when he picked up a loose ball, skipped past a couple of weak challenges before putting it over from out the field. Sadly, it didnât really kick them on. Jack Fitzgibbon and Daniel Scully did look dangerous when the ball did come their way but they were primarily living off scraps.
Frees from David Reidy kept them in touch in the first half but once NCW pulled that bit in front, those frees from Reidy werenât really closing the gap anymore. He was quiet enough from open play, he did score one great point from out on the wing after taking a bit of physical abuse after a puckout but that was really it. Similarly, Ethan Hurley was quiet for NCW, he didnât hurl as much ball as you would like him to. Luckily for NCW, they had enough men elsewhere and it was that run of scores just after half-time that really put the game to bed. Nix put them 5 up with a nice point from play, his third of the day, before Brian Hurley ran through the middle, set up Con Hayes for a goal chance but the goalkeeper, Robbie Breen, pulled off a fine save to divert it out for a â65. Eoin Hurley converted the â65 and maybe NCW were lucky to keep 15 men on the pitch when a wild challenge by Nix led to him poleaxing a Dromin/Athlacca man. Jonathan Hayes brandished a yellow card and NCW never looked back. Eoin Hurley then got a fine score from play to open up a seven-point lead.
David Breen did carry the fight for Dromin/Athlacca at wing-forward in the second half; he caught a few puckouts, set up a couple of scores and won a few frees. But, against the wind, they actually seemed to drop deeper and deeper and lacked structure in their full-forward line and NCW then had extra bodies around the backline to play out. A penalty for NCW could have put the icing on the cake after Brian Hurley again ran through the middle. This time he popped it off to Bryan Nix who was taken out by the corner-back as he attempted to pull the trigger. Johnny Hayes gave the yellow card but big Mike Macâs penalty was a real disappointment flying high over the bar, never threatening the keeper. Not sure that he is a bit penalty taker than Eoin or Ethan Hurley but it got the big man on the scoreboard. He won a few frees from puckouts and linked the play nicely, as did Willie Hurley, but never really looked like scoring from play. The game kinda fizzled out in the last 10 minutes or so. D/A never got within 7 again, they didnât lower the blade, they never really pushed on. They through Dixie Higgins on at full-forward and he had a couple of tussles with Maurice Murphy, but a half-chance for Daniel Scully was the best they had. He blazed wide when perhaps heâd have been better off popping into the middle where Peter McMahon was unmarked.
In reality though, it wouldnât have changed the result, NCW were deserving winners. Brian Hurley was probably the best player on the pitch, he scored 0-4, created both goal chances and won a couple of frees aswell. Bryan Nix wasnât far behind with 0-3 from play while Eoin Hurley scored 0-2 from play as well as another 0-10 from placed balls. Ruadhan OâConnor, John Whelan, Michael Cremin and Todd Donovan were all very solid too. I havenât seen NCW up until now and I know they lost two games before this, but they looked very sharp tonight and looked like a team that could potentially win this competition. D/A, on the other hand, did not impress me. They beat an Effin team that beat NCW handily but just didnât show up tonight, they just looked flat. Cian Scully was there in a boot, he was a big loss. Also Mike Reidy was not playing and neither was Sean OâLeary. They probably need those three fit and firing to contest in the latter stages (or to even get there).
Newcastlewest 0-24
Eoin Hurley 0-12 (0-9 frees, 0-1 â65)
Brian Hurley 0-4
Bryan Nix 0-3
Ethan Hurley 0-2 (0-1 free)
Willie Hurley 0-1
John Whelan 0-1
Mike McMahon 0-1 (0-1 penalty)
Dromin/Athlacca 0-16
David Reidy 0-11 (0-8 frees, 0-2 â65s)
Daniel Scully 0-1
William Dore 0-1
Jack Fitzgibbon 0-1
John Paul Costello 0-1
David Breen 0-1
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Did Conor allis and Eoin cregan play?
Conor Allis was sent off last week so I would presume he was out.
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Allis didnât play.
I think Cregan came on, after being named to start in the programme.
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I see that Doon changed tact from the Kilmallock game. Instead of trying to replace all their backs with subs & junior backs as they did the last day, they moved some of their better players back the field. Think only one of last weekâs starting backs stayed in the same position.
They moved Cormac Bug into the corner, DOD came in at 6, they brought in Patrick Cummins at wing-back and Eddie Stokes also dropped back to wing-back. Shane OâConnell also came in in the corner.
And young Donal Coughlan, 17/18 years of age, first year on the panel, threw over 0-5 points from play. Some going for a young fella to stand up like that when the chips are down. Pat Simon hit 1-3 too.
Maybe there was a bit of complacency from the Well, but it would have been a different tactical challenge too.
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Some talent but they will bed him in slowly ala Cathal O Neill.
You would hope so. Heâs a bit green yet, shot high for a couple of goal chances last night a la Gillane.
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