Ballymartle 1-13, Shamrocks 0-11
Shamrocks have developed a habit of playing well in defeat over the last few games and it continued out in Riverstick on Wednesday afternoon last. This was Shamrocks last game before championship on June 3rd against Tracton and it has to be said, despite certain limitations in certain parts of the team, the performances have slowly been getting better with more exposure to the small ball.
Ballymartle were probably the best team Shamrocks have faced all year so far yet they made a very competetive effort to grab the points here but a lack of an all important goal, especially in the second half when they brought the deficit down to 2 points at one stage, didnt help matters.
Shamrocks went ahead early on from Michael O’Neills 65 and things were pretty even for the first 10 minutes as the sides exchanged points.However, over the course of the next 15 minutes, Ballymartle went on a scoring burst and scored 1-4 without reply to move into a 1-6 to 0-4 lead at halftime, Seanán Collins and Barry Mulqueen with the other Shamrocks points.
Shamrocks played some excellent hurling in the second half against the slight breeze and made Bally fight all the way to the end for the win. Seanán Collins and Michael Prout (now at midfield) scored early points and it was 1-6 to 0-6 after 5 minutes of the second half. The teams cancelled themselves out for the remainder of the game with Shamrocks trying without success for that goal while Ballymartle kept that 3 point gap more or less all the way to the final few minutes when they slotted over 2 late frees, despite points from Joe Shanahan and further scores from Prout, Mulqueen and Collins.
Shamrocks displayed plenty of hunger and heart in defeat and all roads lead to the championship match. Shamrocks are in a much better position hurling wise now than they were 2 months ago and lets get all players out training next week and make one big push to beat Tracton.
Team: M. O’Neill, J. Tuohy, S. O’Reilly, C. Brady, M. Prout, B. Sweeney, A. McCarthy, F. O’Neill, B. Mulqueen, J. Browne, S. Collins, B. Cusack, D. O’Neill, D. Collins, J. Shanahan. Subs used – J. Sweeney, J. Wilson.
Shamrocks players before JHL V Ballymartle, 23/5/12
