Tracton 0-15, Shamrocks 1-9
Shamrocks lost a golden opportunity to qualify for the SE JAHC Semi Final with a 3 point defeat to old rivals Tracton on a perfect Carrigaline sod on Sunday afternoon last.
Shamrocks so far this year have reserved their best hurling for the second half of games but on Sunday it was the opposite. Everything seemed to be going to plan at half time with Shamrocks leading 0-7 to 0-6, having played against a slight breeze. Joseph Shanahan was on fire at corner forward, rifling over 0-3 from play and causing the Tracton defence no end of problems. However, even at this stage it was clear that the rest of the Shamrocks attack was struggling to get involved and this manifested itself bigtime in the second half. Seanán Collins put over a pair of frees while Fergus O’Neill scored a beauty during the Shamrocks purple patch leading up to halftime in what was a very close first half. Shamrocks seemed to be going well at this stage.
The second half was a complete systems failure and its hard to fathom where it came from. The first touch deserted Shamrocks, indecision on the ball, scorable frees wide and what must have been 20 frees plus conceded, most of them put over by the Tracton free takers who were on form. Shamrocks were beaten all over the field and didnt score from play in the second half. Michael O’Neill, a goalkeeper, was Shamrocks top scorer with 1-1 and he rifled home a 21 yard free 2 minutes into injury time. But the game was long gone at that stage. We wish a speedy recovery to Barry Mulqueen who broke a knuckle during the game, but played on!
Shamrocks now enter the back door again and play the losers of the Crosshaven, Carrigaline, Courcey Rovers group, probably in two weeks time. Hurling training this Wednesday at 7.30 with Football training Friday for EVERYONE at 7.30pm
Team: M. O’Neill, J. Tuohy, S. O’Reilly, C. Brady, M. Prout, B. Sweeney, A. McCarthy, N. Hayes, F. O’Neill, B. Mulqueen, S. Collins, B. Cusack, J. Shanahan, D. O’Neill, D. Collins. Subs used – R. Murphy, D. O’Sullivan, J. Sweeney.
