Ballinhassig 2-28, Shamrocks 0-12
Shamrocks and Ballinhassig met in the semi final of the hurling championship on Sunday morning with Ballinhassig overwhelming favourites. Shamrocks played well in the first half slippery conditions and made life difficult for Ballinhassig. They really got stuck in and were in Ballinhassigs faces throughout the first half. Andrew O’Grady was unerring from frees and scored 0-6, also adding a beauty from play alongside Mark Hitchmough’s inspirational point from play just before HT. The game had been level at 0-4 to 0-4 after 15 minutes before Ballinhassig stretched it to a 3 point game with 10 minutes to HT. However, Shamrocks refused to give in and battled to a 0-10 to 0-8 Ht deficit. All to play for in the second half.
Five minutes into the second half, Ballinhassig led Shamrocks by 0-11 to 0-9 and Shamrocks were well in the game and giving Ballinhassig plenty to think about. It was hard to believe at this point that Ballinhassig would go on to win the game by a whopping 22 points.
At the 35 minute mark, as all good hurling teams do, in an instant, Ballinhassig went 0-13 to 0-9 up and then the turning point arrived straight after when a long delivery went all the way to the Shamrocks net for a lucky goal. That was the end of the game as far as Shamrocks were concerned. The life was sucked out of the Shamrocks challenge and Ballinhassig used the last 25 minutes purely for shooting practice.
Shamrocks rallied in the middle of this barrage with Brian Sweeney and Alan McCarthy scoring some lovely points from play but Ballinhassig coasted to the end. This was a courageous display from Shamrocks for the 35 minutes but once the goal went in, the difference in class was all too evident to see as Ballinhassig pressed the accelerator button. They will take a lot of stopping.
Thanks and well done to everyone involved. Best wishes to 16 year old David Andrews who ended up with a broken arm for his troubles. On the other side of the coin, it was great to see Brian Sweeney back playing his first game since his serious injury back in June.
Team: C. Scriven, C. Kidney, S. Kidney, J. Tuohy, A. McCarthy, B. Sweeney, J. Browne, B. Mulqueen, A. O’Grady, R. Twomey, D. Scriven, M. Hitchmough, D. Andrews, C. O’Neill, F. O’Neill. Subs used – A. Boland, S. Andrews, T. Murphy.
