Senior Football Relegation Semi-Final
Na Piarsaigh 1-12
Kildimo Pallaskenry 3-16
Our senior footballers had a disappointing afternoon on Saturday, losing out to Kildimo Pallaskenry in the senior relegation semi-final. The result sees us face into a final that no team wants to be preparing for. Ballylanders will be our opponents with fixture details to be confirmed this week.
Our opponents looked to be pulling away from us in the opening quarter, our lads struggling to maintain possession. It took us 23 minutes before we got our first score from play. A well worked move, moved up the field through the hands of Kieran Daly and Tommy Glynn, before Dylan Cronin stroked it over the bar. The score of the first half came from the boot of Evan Egan, landing a brilliant 2-pointer to leave a point between the sides at the break. Score at half time: Na Piarsaigh 0-08 Kildimo Pallaskenry 0-09
Dylan levelled the game directly from the restart, his goal bound shot grazing the crossbar. That looked to be our last bit of positive play as Kildimo Pallaskenry started to pull away again, slotting their first goal on 37 minutes. They raised a few more white flags before Gordon buried a goal for Na Piarsaigh to cut the deficit to 4. Some bit of a lifeline you might say but for our opponents to lash one in at the other end straight from the restart. That extended their lead to 7-points with 8 to play. They got their third goal on the stroke of full time.
Team: Eoghain Sherlock, Fionn O’Tiarnaigh, Ralph Leonard, Christy O’Hagan, Cathal McMullan, Dean McLoughlin, Ronan Houlihan(0-01), Donal Ó Conaill, Jack McCarthy, Gordon Brown(1-00), Evan Egan(0-07, 0-04f 1*2pt), Kieran Daly(0-02f), Daniel Collins, Dylan Cronin(0-02), Tommy Glynn.
Subs: Adam Jordan, Jim Beary, Eoghan Vukovic, Aaron Rush.
U20 Hurling Championship Round 2
Na Piarsaigh 1-16
Bruff 0-14
Our U20 hurlers had a hard-fought win over a dogged Bruff team on Thursday night in Páirc Uí Dromgúil to register their first victory of this year's championship. A welcome result following their narrow defeat to Mungret in the opening round only a few shorts weeks ago.
It was point for point for most of the opening half with Alex Kearns kicking off the scoring with a placed ball. He’d score 3 more frees along with 2 from play before the half time break. Brossie added his first inside 5 minutes before Bruff got off the mark. We looked the better team in the opening exchanges, creating a handful of decent goal chances, snuffed out by the Bruff defense. Their full back line came to the rescue on no more than 3 occasions, refusing to let us get a foothold on the game. The same could be said for our full back line, led by John O’Keeffe at full, and flanked by Mikey Duggan and Harry McGann. They didn’t give Bruff a sniff of a goal chance all throughout the hour. The first half ended as it began, with Alex converting a free and Brossie sending one over from play. Score at halftime: Na Piarsaigh 0-09 Bruff 0-07
Fresh off his extra time exploits in the senior final the weekend previous, James Finn was a colossal at centre back on Thursday night. He was dominant in the air along with being a serious threat going forward. An absolute joy to watch. He was greatly assisted by Adam Fitzsimons to his left who also had a solid game for Ardscoil Rís in their Harty Cup win over Cashel recently.
David O’Keeffe added to our scoring midway through the second half, moving up from midfield to land a lovely point. The next play saw us finally break through the Bruff rearguard. A great team goal, started with James Finn carrying the ball out from our half back line, splitting the Bruff defense with a floating pass to Mark Hogan. Mark drew in the Bruff fullback, offloading to Brossie for him to dispatch to the net. We did well to ground out what was left of the game, limiting Bruff to a handful of frees. Alex converted a few more placed balls before David got his second on the stroke of full time.
Team: Darragh Jordan, Mike Duggan, John O’Keeffe, Harry McGann, Tadhg Mullane, James Finn, Adam Fitzsimons, David O’Keeffe(0-01), Ronan Benson, Paul McDonogh, Mark Hogan, Sam Jordan, Alex Kearns(0-10, 0-06f 1'65), Eoin Brosnan(1-03), Josh Sheehan(0-01)
Subs: John O’Tiarnaigh, Conor Bermingham, Ferdia Minihane, Louis Murphy.
