Tables turned on Island
CROSSABEG-BALLYMURN qualified for the Junior hurling championship semi-final with a great win over Our Lady's Island in an entertaining game in Piercestown on Saturday last.
The winners gained a small piece of revenge as the men from the south had beaten them in the 2006 final. The game couldn't have begun any better for the winners as Michael Cummins found the net after two minutes.
By the tenth minute they had a five-point lead (1-4 to 0-2), with the Murphy brothers, Niall (two) and Barry, firing over scores with David Jackman adding the other. However, by the 20th minute they were behind by 15 to 1-4 with the entire Island tally coming from frees and the sticks of Liam Kinsella (1-3) and John Walsh (0-2).
Scores were hard to come by for the remainder of the half, but Barry Murphy tied it with a good free before, right on the stroke of the interval, blood substitute Brian O'Leary found the Island net from close range to give his team a lift at the break (25 to 1-5).
Walsh with another Island free cut the deficit before the lively Niall Murphy broke in behind the defence to rattle the net (3-5 to 1-6). Paddy Whitty and Barry Murphy exchanged scores, and Kinsella then got his second goal from a close-range free to cut the lead to two points (3-6 to 2-7).
However, after some key substitutions, which saw the introduction of Michael Doyle and Johnny Murphy for CrossabegBallymurn, the game swung massively in their favour. Four points from Barry Murphy (two), Niall Murphy and Eoghan Kehoe were met with a solitary point from a Kinsella free.
Johnny Murphy then made his presence felt, firing 1-1 in the space of a minute which was backed up by a point from brother Barry to seal victory (4-12 to 2-8). An Eoin Kinsella point was followed by a consolation goal from brother Liam who took his personal tally to 3-4, and he must have wondered how he was still on the losing side.
The winners will also thank the heroics of goalkeeper Mark Dempsey who brought of a string of magnificent saves near the end to ensure passage to the semi-final.
- RICHARD DOYLE in Piercestown
