By: Kevin Corrigan
Molloy Environmental Systems U20 Hurling Championship Semi-Final
Shinrone/Ballyskenach-Killavilla 2-20
St Rynagh’s 3-17
3-16 to 0-18 behind with five minutes left, SBK got the goals they had to in the closing minutes. Seamie Cleare was their hero, netting the first in the 56th minute. The outstanding Darragh Scully put St Rynagh’s back four up with an excellent 57th minute point but Cleare brought it down to a point game a minute later, firing home after Rynagh’s failed to clear.
Superb defender Jason Dockery, moved forward into an attacking role in a last throw of the dice in the last ten minutes, sent over a sensational equaliser as it drifted into extra time and SBK came closest to winning it in the closing few minutes.
Extra time should have been played but referee Stephen Connolly decided against it. Connolly had a very good game but was possibly wrong with that – day light was declining and it had got very wet in the second half. There was a health and safety aspect to the decision and none of the teams were complaining at it but it was a very big call to go against the rules of the championship, a good twenty minutes after the end, there was still sufficient light to be hurling and it could have been finished.
It was a thrilling end of a very entertaining game of hurling and St Rynagh’s will be kicking themselves at not winning. They really should have closed it out but SBK displayed terrific resilience and punished the home side for some very erratic shooting in the second half.
St Rynagh’s were the better team for a lot of the game, albeit by tight margins, and they looked like they would win it until that late snatch and grab raid.
Senior forwards Aaron Molloy and Darragh Scully caused untold damage in the first half with Mikey Boylan showing up very well on the half forward line. Molloy fired home two opportunist goals as St Rynagh’s stormed into a 2-4 to 0-5 lead. Darragh Scully got a brilliant third goal in the 19th minute for a 3-7 to 0-8 lead and SBK, who did a lot of good hurling in the first half, were gasping for air.
They took remedial action by bringing Gearoid Maher out of centre back to mark Molloy. Maher did this very well and Molloy who had 2-1 on the board at that stage didn’t score again. The downside was it took the Shinrone senior defender out of the game to an extent and it was only late on that he went back to the half back line when they had nothing to lose.
Maher tied up Molloy who got on some ball but was doing everything under much more pressure but SBK never countered the threat of Scully who made hay all evening.
St Rynagh’s half time lead of 3-9 to 0-12 was a fair reflection of the way it was going but they contributed to their own problems in the second half as their forwards hit some fairly awful wides. They had six wides from seven shots in the opening nine minutes of the second half. The SBK defence deserve credit for some but a few of them were just wayward shots that had nothing to do with the opposition and the reasons St Rynagh’s didn’t win was in this period.
SBK’s shooting was not flawless either and they had four wides in this period as they got the deficit down to 3-10 to 0-15. St Rynagh’s forwards did improve after this and their lead was 3-14 to 0-16 at the three quarter way stage.
A James Morkan point and Liam O’Riordan free kept SBK alive but Darragh Scully (free) and Mikey Boylan restored a seven point lead. Gearoid Maher’s point was followed by Cleare’s first goal that set up a grandstand finish and it was all SBK late on – they deserved a second chance for fighting spirit and pure refusal to give in
THE SCORERS
St Rynagh’s: Darragh Scully 1-9 (4f and 1 ’65’), Aaron Molloy 2-1, Mikey Boylan 0-4, Ivan Grant, Gareth Butler and Adam Daly 0-1 each.
SBK: Seamie Cleare 2-1, Liam O’Riordan 0-6 (5f), James O’Sullivan 0-4, James Morkan and Gearoid Maher (2f) 0-3 each, Jason Dockery 0-2, James Sampson 0-1.
THE TEAMS
ST RYNAGH’S: Riley Dolan; Callum Moore, Daire Daly, Sean Lyons; Dan Healy, Paul Cannon, Adam Daly; Sam McGuckin, Niall Flannery; Mikey Boylan, Ivan Grant, Harry Grant; Darragh Scully, Gareth Butler, Aaron Molloy. Subs – Sean Farrell for McGuckin (39m), Liam Mulhare for Ivan Grant (43m), Jan Palacz for Butler (46m),
SHINRONE/BALLYSKENACH-KILLAVILLA: Matt Watkins; Darragh Phelan, Paul Simpson, Jason Dockery; Ben Younge, Gearoid Maher, Sam Younge; James O’Sullivan, James Sampson; James Morkan, Liam O’Riordan, Killian Fitzpatrick; Fionn Carney, Brian Oakley, Seamie Cleare. Subs –
Referee – Stephen Connolly, Kilcormac-Killoughey.
By Offaly Secretary Fri 28th Aug
