Did Danny go doolally?
Wasnât at it. He only got wan goal. But I believe he had them addled any time he got on the ball. When they are all watching him it makes great space for the rest
Is he back long?
He missed the first game was back for the second
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Ye boys love the Kerry jersey
Those Limerick lads would have savage respect for teams that have done 4 in a row such as Kerry
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Some amount of AI medals there, Paidi in good company 
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Ballysteen 6-9 (27)
Ballylanders 1-17 (20)
A tremendously entertaining game of football in Ballygran as these two sides serve up yet another crazy match. One might look at the scoreline with 18 scores to 15 and think perhaps Ballysteen got lucky, but to be honest they were full value for the 6 goals.
Ballysteen started brightest with a goal from Shane Gallagher but Ballylanders playing with the aid of a strong wind and a hill were soon to take control of the game. They were razor sharp in their shooting and when they capitalised on a mix up in the Ballysteen defence to punch home a goal, things looked ominous. Ballysteen struck back with a second goal before Ballylanders twisted the screw and raced into a 1-13 to 2-4 lead at the break. The glimmer of hope for Ballysteen was that every time they ran at the Landers defence they were creating goal chances amd really should have had a 3rd before half time but the shot from Gallagher was well saved after a scintillating move up the field.
Ballysteen started the 2nd half brightly creating a couple of half goal chances before both sides traded points. This was to be as good as it got for Ballylanders in 2nd half. After 38mins a brilliant cross field pass from James OâMeara was cooly finished to the net by Cillian Ferris.
5 minutes later Danny Neville scored a brilliant solo goal, after 3 different Landers players attempted to haul him down. That put the sides level with Ballysteen in total control.
Substitute Paul OâShaughnessy grabbed the other two as Ballylanders got caught in a sea of indecision. They neither threw everything into attack or tried to stem the tide in defence. It was a brilliant, free flowing game of football that Iâm sure would have more defensively minded coaches tearing their hair out.
This puts Ballysteen into the strongest position of the chasing pack but will still most likely need at least a point from the remaining games against Monaleen and Adare to ensure qualification for the knockout stages.
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Also caught the last 20 minutes of a very impressive performance from K/P in making lightwork of a fairly toothless St Kierans side.
Kildimo/Pallas 2-12 St. Kieranâs 0-9
Kieranâs beat us last year in our first ever Senior Football Championship game in a match we felt we had the winning of but maybe lacked experience down the home stretch and they edged us in the final 10 minutes.
We were missing a few key players, including Darren OâConnell and Darragh Deegan, in that game. This year it was Kieranâs who were missing key players with Darragh Treacy & John Hayes absent and Noel Callanan only coming on at half-time. (Admittedly we are still missing a couple but not as critical as those).
We were against the wind in the first half but when we moved the ball at pace, we cut through them and Peter Nash scored two superb goals, the man is absolutely lethal, I think thatâs four goals in three games now.
Kieranâs had chances themselves in the first half but were wasteful and turned the ball over too easily. And then in the second half, although we werenât exactly free-scoring, they never got closer than within 6.
Cathal Downes kicked three fine points in the second half with the wind at his back. Liam Kennedy got a black card for a foul on Darren OâConnell, came back on with two minutes to go and got a yellow for an off-the-ball incident. Game was well done at that stage, the black card probably killed any second half momentum they had.
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Ye looked to have them well contained.
The two boys dominated the middle and Kierans didnât seem to have any real plan in attack. Obviously missing Hayes & Tracey would be a huge blow, but they were very laboured getting the ball forward.
I thought they were maybe a little unlucky not to score more in the first half, their final pass let them down unnecessarily.
Conor Staff & Cathal Downes were really good for us, our full-back line, particularly Mossy Sheehan, were excellent and Kevin Walsh really good in goals.
Who was that 13 playing for them,Daly or something he was some shaper.Shooting from all angles,and nothing going over.K/P were well worth the win,we left a few points behind early in the first half but the 2 goals really settled them down.Thr ref must not like Tony Mc too much as he gave some amount of frees against him.A good win but weâll need the rest of the forwards to contribute a bit more scores to trouble the big boys cause Nash canât do it all.
Alan Daly, transferred to them via Oola but i think from Wicklow originally.
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Havenât done my round-up of last yearâs hurling predictions yet. A better week of predicting this week, with 17/29. A couple of draws and a couple of major shocks did throw the spanner in the works alright.
Senior A- 1/2
Ahane 1-12 Kilmallock 1-19
Doon 2-18 Patrickswell 2-16
Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-14 vs Na Piarsaigh 1-23
Two games on the Thursday night this week and, for a while, it looked as if there might be two shocks but, in the end, Kilmallock saw out the win against Ahane. Ahane did take the fight to Kilmallock but they were nowhere near as accurate as they had been the week before and profligacy probably cost them. Kilmallock missed a lot of chances themselves but it was the goal from Gavin just after the break which turned the momentum and proved to be the crucial score. What a pass from Chan into Gavin and a great finish into the corner. From there, they never looked back really. Not as impressive as they were on the opening day but they still have Graeme Mul, Robbie Hanley, Paudie OâBrien and David Woulfe to come back into that and if Shane OâBrien can become more efficient, heâs a very hard man to mark. Ahane versus Doon could very well be a straight knockout game to see who makes a quarter-final and Ahane will feel they have a much better chance of causing an upset this year due to Doonâs injuries.
However, in the other game on Thursday night, Doon made the ultimate turnaround. After taking a hammering against Kilmallock and not really getting any players back, a lot of people were fearful that they could experience a similar beating, especially after the Well beat Na Piarsaigh and looked impressive in doing so. But, fair play to Doon, they turned up and brought the fight. They moved DOD to centre-back, Eddie Stokes went to wing-back, Patrick Cummins came in from the start. They also started Shane OâConnell in the corner. It just looked like a much stronger defence but still had the likes of Pat Simon and Adam English in attack. But despite 1-3 from play from Simon, it was young Donal Coughlan who stole the headlines with 0-5 from play. The Well maybe had plans for some of the other players but it was the newcomer who caused the most bother. The game against Kilmallock was over inside 10 minutes, Doon gave up tbh, that clearly was not the case in this one. And complacency is an awful thing, which can be very hard to stop creeping in. If any of the Well players had seen Doonâs performance, all theyâre hearing all week is how many theyâre missing, itâs tough to steel yourself against that. And now it means they still have a bit to do to qualify, but itâs probably a lesson theyâll take on board.
We fought hard against Na Piarsaigh but ultimately not good enough. Werenât ahead at half-time when we needed to be, considering the wind, and couldnât curb the ball going in to Casey and Breen in the full-forward line despite how good Kyle & Darren were. Talked about it in detail already, donât really have anything more to say. Na Piarsaigh still arenât fully firing but will have been glad to see Daithi Dempsey come off the bench, and if they can get Will OâDonoghue back into it, that will make an immeasurable difference. Weâre up against it now, especially after Doonâs victory, and will have to dig out two wins from our last three games to stay up. Itâs going to be tough.
Senior B- 1/3
Garryspillane 2-11 Mungret/St. Paulâs 1-14
Monaleen 2-24 South Liberties 0-14
Adare 1-17 Ballybrown 1-17
Two draws in this group really fucked my predictions. Mungret beat the top two teams in the group last year but dropped points against Garryspillane and Blackrock, and theyâve done that against the Bouncers again this year. It does sound like they had the better of things in this one for long periods but just couldnât kill them off. In fairness to Garryspillane, even though theyâve brought through a lot of young players in recent years, theyâve retained that doggedness and are incredibly hard to kill off, even when faced with superior opposition. Now, thatâs not much consolation to them, they didnât win this match either and Iâm sure they would have really fancied themselves. Teejeâs young fella grabbed two goals from play at the edge of the square but Calum Sheehan hit 0-3 from play and Bryan Heavey seemed to have been the one who stood up at the end, he hit Garryspillaneâs last three points, including a free from inside his own half to level it. Mungret were without Niall Mulcahy so no wonder their goalscoring was somewhat inhibited but thatâs 3 goals for Barry Duff in two games. Mungret still in the hunt for a quarter-final spot and will have to beat Adare and/or Ballybrown to get there. For Garryspillane, a draw gets them on the board at least, a lot of people would be saying that their match against Liberties looks huge but Iâd give them a right chance of beating Monaleen at the very least.
@dodgy_keeper travelled to Caherconlish for the clash between two sides had suffered heavy defeats on the opening weekend. It was Monaleen who recovered to take a big win and Liberties look in big, big bother. Arguably, it was that first-half goal from Luke Murphy which killed the game; when Libertiesâs best scorer was in their backline, it seemed very unlikely that they were going to be able to close that kind of gap. You look at their scoring, they only hit 0-4 from play and no player scored more than 0-1 than play. Should they be getting more from some of the lads they poached like Ken Byrnes & Barry Cooney? Possibly, but in reality, they have just lost too many players and with Anthony Nash not there at the weekend either, thatâs another body down from last year. For Monaleen, the opening weekend loss will have been sobering and they will be delighted with the response. 0-6 from play from ĂâDĂĄlaigh is serious scoring and Joe Fitz is a serious player in the middle of the field, good to see him standing out as the best player on the pitch and scoring 0-5. With Darragh Langan also standing out at wing-back and Mark Field coming off the bench to get the second goal, they are also incorporating last yearâs U-17s nicely, while Mark OâDwyer also made a cameo appearance from the bench; theyâll need him in 3 weeks time in a battle against the Bouncers!
Gave a fairly detailed report above on the Adare vs Ballybrown game on the Sunday. A real game of two halves, Adare should have been further ahead at half-time but Ballybrown dominated the second half and will feel they had the momentum going down the stretch. Standout performances from Willie Griffin inside, David OâMahony at wing-forward (particularly in the first half) and Mike Keane at full-back for Adare. Willie got an opportunistic goal in the first half but, although Ballybrown hadnât really got going in that first half, a moment of sheer brilliance from Aidan OâConnor kept them in touch. Aidan wasnât involved as much as Ballybrown would have liked but still got a few classy scores, similar to Luke OâConnor who got 0-3 from play but was peripheral at times. Ross Griffin and Mikey Kiely made a big impact from the bench for Ballybrown, the momentum shifted and if it wasnât for Willie digging them out with a couple of scores at crucial stages, Adare would have been in serious bother. Ballybrown will rue spurning two goal opportunities in the final moments as both Luke OâConnor and Andrew Cliffe missed pick-ups when they had clear runs on goal with an overlap. Conditions were difficult in the second half but made it an engrossing encounter. Means that we donât have a clear favourite to go up at this juncture, and it could come down to score difference. But I donât think either were so good that you couldnât envisage a slip-up. Word is that Declan Hannon may, in fact, be back which would obviously be a huge boost for Adare if they utilise him correctly.
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Premier Intermediate- 2/4
Dromin/Athlacca 0-16 Newcastlewest 0-24
Cappamore 0-15 Glenroe 0-23
Blackrock 1-17 Effin 2-19
Bruff 1-23 Na Piarsaigh 2 2-13
I predicted Dromin/Athlacca to beat NCW on the basis of NCWâs poor form to date but there was no evidence of that in Askeaton on Thursday night. NCW roared into the game from the very start and never really looked like losing it. A couple of nice early scores set them on their way, Bryan Nix and Brian Hurley particularly lively in the wing-forward positions with the movement of Eoin Hurley and Con Hayes also causing trouble for Dromin/Athlacca inside. D/A didnât feed enough good ball into their forwards; there was no sign of Mike Reidy, Sean OâLeary and Cian Scully was in a boot, but those players were missing in the earlier rounds too. NCW will still want more from Ethan Hurley who scored a fine point early on but was fairly quiet after that. NCW did look like what I expected from them when I tipped them to win this competition at the outset; they have pacy, direct runners out the field and lively forwards inside and try and create lots of space for them to move into. 0-7 from play from Hurley & Nix on the wings and although Hayes didnât score, he did win frees. Nix also won a penalty which Mike Mac blazed over the bar. But, as I mentioned in my report, D/A just looked flat, they never got going at all and NCW will face sterner tests later in Championship. David Reidy was fairly quiet with David Breen probably their best on the night. Both NCW & D/A now have one win and I know NCW had a poor start, but youâd fancy them to pick up the necessary points now.
In the potential relegation battle on Saturday night, Glenroe came out on top against Cappamore. Both were winless heading into this and Cappamore are now in serious bother heading into the break. Havenât heard much about this one but itâs a massive win for Glenroe. Puts them two clear of Cappamore, gives them head-to-head advantage and puts them within two points of a semi-final place with four games to play.
Effin now back on track after a good win and have ended Blackrockâs 100% record, and it sounded from @Jahanâs report that they were comfortably the better team in this one. Thatâs despite Paddy OâDonovan being somewhat limited by the close attention of Ian OâBrien. Although if heâs still getting on ball and linking things, he doesnât have to score, if heâs setting up scores elsewhere. And when your full-forward gets 2-2 from play and a few others hit 0-3, itâs not as if they were lacking for scorers. Pierse OâKelly would be one of Effinâs more experienced heads and took Richie Mac for 2-2, while Tommy Quaid who got 0-3 would be a similarly experienced head. But even when POD was quiet, two of the others from the younger brigade in Fergal & Ruairi OâConnor also hit 0-3 from play each. Itâs just a nice spread of scorers, itâs a big advantage that Effin have over some of their competitors.
@Jahan also made his way to Sundayâs game in the Premier Intermediate with Bruff the pacesetters and the only team with a 100% record. At this stage, youâd think they should be making a semi-final although you could possibly make the argument that theyâve played the three weakest teams in the division in their opening three games. Na Piarsaigh didnât lose any more from their Premier Intermediates on Friday night, as Daithi Dempsey was the only sub they used, but having already lost a few, they are in a much weaker position than they were.
Intermediate Group 1- 3/3
Bruree 1-25 Kilmallock 2 0-19
Croagh/Kilfinny 1-18 Knockaderry 1-08
Hospital/Herbertstown 2-12 Pallasgreen 1-18
Got all six predictions in the Intermediate right this week after a bit of a disaster last week. Havenât heard much from the Bruree vs Kilmallock game, other than Paddy Lynch came off the bench and was lively, getting the goal as well as a couple of points to secure the victory. Sam Cronolly was, by all accounts, excellent once again. Kilmallock had lost another one to their seniors from the week before and will probably be struggling against relegation while Bruree will really fancy their chances of going all the way. Their match against C/K will be very interesting and could be a dry run for a clash later in the year.
Knockaderry had a great opening weekend victory against Kilmallock but it was always going to be a lot, lot tougher against one of the overall favourites, especially without their talisman, Tom Condon, who hit 0-3 from play from centre-back a week earlier. @Gary_Birtles_Lovechiâs men ran out convincing winners in the end despite another goal from Mike Molloy in the first half. @Gary_Birtles_Lovechi gave the man-of-the-match gong to C/K wing-back Seamie Lenihan who set up Gearoid Lenihanâs goal in the second half but,
Pallasgreen had three sent off in their first game against C/K, and had another two sent off against H/H apparently. This time, however, the red cards were more evenly spread with H/H also having two sent to the line. I did think Pallasgreen would have slightly too much for H/H and they just about edged it, winning by a goal in the end. It is a big result at both ends of the group, it puts Pallasgreen in a fairly good position to make a quarter-final again and it puts H/H in a bit of bother at the other end, although crucial matches against Knockaderry and Kilmallock to come.
Intermediate Group 2- 3/3
Croom 0-10 Knockainey 1-19
Feohanagh 0-08 Granagh/Ballingarry 3-21
Murroe/Boher 0-22 St. Kieranâs 0-13
Not good for Croom, not good at all. @dodgy_keeper gave us some really good insight of the match in Caherelly on Thursday night but thatâs a second defeat on the bounce. The first one was against the relegation favourites and now a hammering at the side of a team who took a fair beating of their own just five days earlier. Worst of all is probably the fact that they scored just 0-10, itâs not good enough scoring at this (or any) level. Battling alone, without firepower, will only get you so far and I wonder whether a team like them can afford to have the likes of Mark Reidy and Ryan OâShea in the backline (if they did indeed play there) when they donât have that many natural forwards (although I would expect more from Conor Lafan and James Malone). Eddie Murphy has been around the block a few times and heâs now got Knockainey back in the saddle very quickly. First weekend was a disaster for them but theyâve two points on the board and three very winnable matches ahead. Thatâs not to say that they will win them all and the loss of Jack OâGrady to injury will be a worry; he is an excellent hurler and an excellent centre-back and, although they coped without him against Croom, the remaining teams might have a bit more in attack than that. Jason Lonergan has always been lively and it sounded like he did very well, with 0-4 or so from play with Padraic Barronâs goal before the break the crucial score. No real surprised with the outcome here, this went as predicted, will Croom pull something out of the bag in the battles to come?
Two massive wins on the trot for @dodgy_keeperâs men on the trot and they are certainly doing nothing to alleviate the favourites tag that may have been attached. It should be a really competitive Intermediate Championship this year but G/B simply blew Feohanagh away in this one. Obviously losing SĂ©amie Flanagan was a massive blow; similar happened to Feohanagh last year when he was absent, they just collapsed. But G/B are racking up massive scores, 4-47 in two games is pretty unbelievable, against two decent enough sides too. Maybe @dodgy_keeper can let us know who did the major scoring this week, after Luke Flynnâs superb exploits last week. They are in a great place now. Feohanagh would just want to be careful now; they should probably expect to beat Kieranâs and Croom and still make the knockouts but they canât afford any no-shows.
@Farpost was at the Murroe/Boher versus St. Kieranâs game to see the return to club action of SeĂĄnie Tobin after four years or so. Itâs been a dark time for M/B in his absence but even though he didnât do much on the night, his presence alone will surely be a massive boost for the East side. Even without him, they delivered a much better performance against Kieranâs by all accounts, after a disappointing no-show against Feohanagh. Mikey Ryan (Maddaboy) hit 0-5 from play, Mikey Ryan (Ned) hit 0-3 from play while big Paudie McNamara scored 2 good points in the first half. Kieranâs just lack natural scorers from play in games where they come up against a more-disciplined defence. This will be a very interesting group now; it looks like G/B will top the group but with the hammering of Feohanagh and the result here, the next round clash between M/B and Knockainey, in particular, looks massive.
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Junior A Group 1- 2/3
Monagea 3-13 Staker Wallace 0-12
Askeaton 3-24 Patrickswell 2 2-17
Ballybricken/Bohermore 0-16 Kilteely/Dromkeen 1-12
By all accounts, Monagea werenât overly convincing last weekend but they still ran out 10-point winners over the Stakers and are sitting pretty on top of the group with 4 points. And results are all that really matter in the group stage; thereâs enough teams who have put in good performances but could be crashing out because of one bad result. Realistically though, without any disrespect to them, the Stakers probably will be the team that all the other sides will be expecting to beat. You still have to go and get the job done and Monagea have done that and are now in a great position, particularly after Monday nightâs result.
Askeaton experienced heartbreak against Monagea on the opening weekend with a last minute goal conceded but responded in style. Now, Patrickswell definitely donât seem to be the force they have been over the past 5 or 6 years where they have consistently competed in the latter stages of the competition. They have now suffered two heavy defeats and could pretty much be out already because of score difference. Now I know they lost a few to their seniors but they still had recent county minors in Eoin Harmon and Billy Earls, fellas with senior experience like Tom Nolan and Darragh Ahern as well as the likes of Cian Enright, David Woulfe and Gavin Carey who are all well able to hurl. And they were 3 up at half-time but Askeaton totally dominated the second half. Willie OâMeara put in another huge performance, 2-4 from play, two superb goals and he just looked a cut above. OisĂn OâFarrell was also a lot better than he was the week before, and hit 0-4 from play. James OâMeara directly set up two goals, one for Willie and one for Luke Gammell, and was also impressive while, arguably, Matthew OâMeara was the best player on the pitch with an absolutely massive display at wing-back. Last week will still hurt but a good response and theyâre still in the hunt for a knockout position.
The reason everyone will feel in the hunt is because of the result on Monday night as B/B beat K/D by a point. I think pretty much everyone expected K/D to win this one, having dispatched the Well in style the week before. I understand that Brian OâGrady was back aswell but B/B dug it out. I guess a local derby can always be different, especially in a Championship that we know to be very, very tight. Or maybe we overrated K/D based on beating the Well and maybe the Well are not the force they were. At the same time, K/D were, by all accounts, very impressive in the victory, regardless of the opposition. Whatever the situation, momentum is now with B/B who, along with Monagea, sit on top of the group with K/D and Askeaton next. And with Askeaton due to face K/D in the next round, that is an absolutely huge clash.
Junior A Group 2- 2/3
Caherline 2-21 Tournafulla 2-19
Claughaun 0-07 Crecora/Manister 0-23
Garryspillane 2 0-14 Templeglantine 2-18
I know Caherline vs Tour would be close, and it was, but I predicted the wrong side of the prediction. The 2021 junior champions have made it two wins from two edging Tour. And, like all the other groups, this will now be a real dogfight to make it out. Itâs advantage Caherline but Tour vs Crecora/Manister, in particular, will be a huge match to come. Didnât hear too much about this game but sounds like it was a good contest, high-scoring aswell.
Claughaun vs C/M was perhaps even more one-sided than expected. We knew that Claughaun were not in a good place after their loss to the Bouncers on the opening weekend. C/M also lost but they put it up to a good side in Caherline, but were very convincing winners in this one. Gets them up-and-running, are now level on points with Tour, Glantine and the Bouncers and also puts them in a decent position score difference-wise. Tougher tests to come obviously.
Glantine also bounced back from an opening round defeat to move to two points. They were expected to win this, they just have to much quality to be losing to a second team like the Bouncers. Still on the back foot after the opening round defeat but at least this gets them up-and-running and puts them in a decent place score difference-wise too.
Junior A Group 3- 0/3
Ahane 2 1-19 Old Christians 1-17
Feenagh/Kilmeedy 3-27 Killeedy 1-08
Castletown/Ballyagran 0-21 St. Patrickâs 1-19
All three predictions wrong in this group, one which looks embarrassing in hindsight. I really didnât think Ahane would beat Christians and that really throws the cat amongst the pigeons in terms of relegation. Christians caused a big upset last week and Ahane now have them on head-to-head. Sounds like it was very tight all the way through, Ahane do have Niall Moran this year who was at senior last year but it was David Carr who got the goal and they got two late points to see out the victory. Havenât heard if anyone was at it but it does make it interesting.
Obviously I got F/K vs Killeedy badly, badly wrong; I really though it would be tight. We talked about K/Dâs statement win last week; now this is a statement win. @dodgy_keeper was there to witness it with lively young corner-forward Ruairi OâConnor, Neilus Ryan and the experienced Moss Fitzgibbon all goaling. He didnât make the county minor panel last year but OâConnor is a very lively forward at this level and is well able to score. But with John OâGorman back and in form, Feenagh/Kilmeedy will be a force to be reckoned with, especially since they have the likes of Diarmuid Coleman in attack also (who dodgy reckoned was the best player on the pitch). They also have players like David Boyce who can score from way out the field and Mark Keane does seem to have them in good nick. Killeedy will be gutted by the manner of the defeat, sounding like only the irrepressible Cian Magnier Flynn standing up for them. A defeat like that can seriously damage morale whereas Keane will have the opposite challenge for F/K; needs to keep them grounded as it may still be a challenge to progress from this group with games against Patâs and Castletown/Ballyagran to come.
@Gary_Birtles_Lovechi gave us the report from Fedamore for what sounded like it was the game of the weekend between Patâs and C/B. Box office. This Championship really is. Patâs last week were beaten by a Christians side many tipped to get relegated out of this grade (which may yet still happen) while C/B edged past a Killeedy side who regularly get to the knockout stages. Now, the fortunes of Killeedy this weekend may have put a different perspective on that result but, even still, a massive result for Patâs to get a one-point win. @Gary_Birtles_Lovechiâs report was top class, really gave the feel of the game and would recommend checking it out. But a quick summation for the purposes of this: C/B led at the break and with the likes of Mark Riordan and Cian McNamara on fire, had some of the Patâs backs in bother, despite Hego trying to hold it all together there. But Patâs do have forwards at the other end that they maybe didnât have a couple of years ago, with Baby Hego and Shane Cross standing up. Hego himself scorerd two from play but it was substitute, Blake Campbell, who got the crucial goal, capitalising on a goalkeeper mistake. Despite that, it took an individual score from Diarmuid Hegarty to actually win it in stoppage time. He really does have so much potential if he can stay fit. As mentioned in the report, a great one to win, a horrible one to lose and it blows this group wide open once again.
Junior A Group 4- 3/3
Bruff 2 0-14 Mungret/St. Paulâs 2-14
Dromcollogher/Broadford 3-18 Rathkeale 4-10
Blackrock 2 0-07 Doon 2 3-15
@ciarancareyshurlingarmy was in Croom as a youthful Mungret side, allied with the physical power of Chams Jagana defeated Bruff by two goals. No real surprises there and puts them in a good position with a couple of weeks off. With Doon & Drom/Broadford to come, still be up against it to make it through but a win in either of those games and theyâll be fixed very nicely. Bruff should be same from relegation semis unless Blackrock pull a shock result out of somewhere but probably do need to beat Rathkeale to be absolutely certain.
Drom/Broadford also make it two wins from two after a goalfest against the Mushes. Shane Murphy, Keith Lacey and Brian Stack all scored goals in the second half; they blitzed Rathkeale at the start of the second half, having been 4 points down at the break. But they scored 3-2 in the first 10 minutes or so of the second half and that was pretty much game over. Rathkeale did get a further two goals but the gap was too big to close that point. In arguably the weakest of the four groups, D/B are in a great position to qualify now with both Blackrock & Bruff still to play. Thatâs a lovely position to be in, not that dissimilar to St. Kieranâs last year.
I suppose you have to remember that Doon always have a good Junior B team too and Blackrock are only slightly better than the best Junior B teams. So even though Doon may have had to promote a few players to their A side because of all the absentees at senior level, the players stepping up are probably not that much behind a lot of those already playing. In reality, they still have a lot of very good junior players still playing and were much too strong for Blackrock. In a group filled with second teams, donât back against them coming out of the group.
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