Belgooly 3-12, Shamrocks 2-11
Shamrocks were knocked out of the championship by Belgooly in Ballygarvan on Friday evening. This was a major shock – Shamrocks were aiming for back to back titles and were eying a run in the county championship. They hammered Belgooly in the first round back in May but the factors surrounding this game were totally different this time, namely a totally different and improved Belgooky and Shamrocks bruising and energy sapping week of 3 championship games in 6 days. The feet were stuck to the ground from the throw in and the normally tight defence was opened up at will.
The omens were not good after 40 seconds when the Belgooly midfielder gained possession 60 yards from goal and soloed right through the centre of the Shamrocks defence without a hand being laid on him to slot past Fergus O’Neill. Shamrocks were playing catch up from this point on and gradually came into the game, scoring some nice points from Cannice Caffrey and Dara O’Sullivan. They eventually went ahead right on halftime when Andrew O’Grady finished off a great move to the Belgooly net and Shamrocks went in at halftime 1-8 to 1-6 ahead. The feeling was that crisis number 1 had been overcome and that they’d drive on in the second half.
However, crisis number 2 arrived straight after the second half throw in and developed from there. Belgooly went from 2 points down to 8 points ahead by scoring 2-4 without reply in the space of 10 minutes. Shamrocks were completely rattled and 15 minutes from time, they had only managed 1 point in the second half, 3-10 to 1-8. They naturally started to go for goals in the hopes of resurrecting this one and managed 1 through Stephen O’Neill but the damage had been done after halftime. Belgooly held on for a deserved win.
Team: F. O’Neill. R. Harrington, S. Hurley, D. Barry, J. Browne, M. Hitchmough, C. Kidney, B. Mulqueen, A. O’Grady, S. O’Neill, P. Brady, C. Caffrey, J. Shanahan, D. O’Sullivan, R. Twomey. Subs used – S. Kidney, S. Collins, M. Jordan, D. Scriven
