Hurling Championship Second Round

The second round last weekend started with the Juniors playing away to Rathnure. A game which was slow to start and where scores were hard to come by. Rathnure were hurling with a strong wind in the first half but nonetheless a good display by our backs meant they could only score 2 points in the first half, while at the other end some late points meant the half time score was 0-05 to 0-02 in our favour. The second half started disastrously for our lads conceding two quick goals, and another one a few minutes later, however we responded well and kept getting scores before we had a stroke of luck when a long range free by Peter Mernagh went just under the cross bar to record our only goal of the game. Further points from Conall Nolan, Matthew Dunne and Mick Sweeney helped us into a clear lead which we maintained for the remainder of the game. Final score Monageer Boolavogue 1-14 Rathnure St Annes 3-03.

 

The intermediate hurling team were in action the following day against Oylegate. Similar to the previous week we started the game well only and thanks to a well taken kicked goal by Padraig Flynn we went into a 3 point lead. Some more accurate shooting and good defending saw us take a 6 point lead at half time, 1-10 to 0-07. Similar to the previous week against Bunclody we had a poor start to the second half, and allowed Oylegate too many easy shots for points, which reduced the lead to 3 points. Scores from Shane Kehoe and Padraig Flynn helped to steady the ship but the same silly mistakes under pressure were again our undoing, and Oylegate kept taking their scores to win in the end by 0-18 to 1-13. It was certainly an improved performance from the first round game, but the same mistakes were made, which in the end cost us the two points. Unfortunately Niall O Loughlin received an injury which is likely to see him out of action for a few weeks at least, but hopefully he will be back in time to play a role in our efforts to qualify for the quarter final.