U20 Hurling Championship Final
Na Piarsaigh 1-10
Mungret 2-15
Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale was the setting for our U20 county final meeting with Mungret on Sunday afternoon. This was a repeat of the first round tie, of which our city opponents came out on top by a single point. We scored a well earned semi-final win over Doon last Monday night at the same venue, with Mungret recording a comfortable victory over Monaleen in the other semi-final.
We got off to a bright start with Alex Kearns landing a lovely score from the far sideline. Eoin Brosnan drove one over a couple of minutes later to leave the sides level at 2 apiece. Mungret responded to our leveller with their first goal. They added a couple more points in the opening half while Alex kept our hopes alive with a handful of frees. It was clear from the opening exchanges the physical power of our opponents. While we were doing our utmost to match them for hurling, we were coming up short in the 50:50 challenges and rucks. But we stuck it out and didn’t drop the heads. Score at half time: Na Piarsaigh 0-04 Mungret 1-07
Both teams traded scores at the start of the second half. David O’Keeffe landed a neat point, with Mark Hogan adding a second. We were unfortunate to lose Ronan Benson to a head injury soon into the second period. Ronan was one of our standout performers in the opening half, continuing his great form from the semi-final. He was switched to wing back before throw-in following Tadhg Mullane's withdrawal due to illness. Mungret struck their second goal with 46 minutes on the clock to put 9 between the sides.
Our best play of the game came with 10 minutes remaining. A goal finished to the net by Alex Kearns. Josh Sheehan delivered a long ball into the full forward line, wonderfully fielded by Mark Hogan. He turned for goal, flicking the ball across the goal mouth for Alex to bat to the net. It was a great phase of play from our lads to bring the deficit back to 5 points. Unfortunately that was as close as we were to get, with Mungret running out 8-point winners.
Great credit is due to Evan Condon and his management team of Emmet Beston, Evan Sweaney, Podge Kennedy and William O’Donoghue for the great time and commitment given to the group over the past few months. With the new split season, the U20 grade is a hard one to get right with players being pulled from all angles at the tail end of the season. Our U20 squad had lads involved in senior, intermediate, junior B, Junior C and minor hurling this year. This coupled with a handful of lads involved with Harty Cup, third level and intercounty squads. The squad had 5 players up to the age in James Finn, Josh Sheehan, Sam Jordan and Ger O’Tiarnaigh along with the injured John O’Tiarnaigh. The campaign will bring these lads on so much and the hurt of losing a county final will surely drive the group to bigger and better things in the future.
Team: Darragh Jordan, Mike Duggan, John O'Keeffe, Harry McGann, Ronan Benson, James Finn, Adam Fitzsimons, David O'Keeffe(0-01), Sam Jordan, Josh Sheehan, Paul McDonogh, Ger O'Tiarnaigh, Alex Kearns(1-07, 0-06f), Eoin Brosnan(0-01), Mark Hogan(0-01).
Subs used: Conor Bermingham, Ferdia Minihane, Danny Sheehan & Ben O'Regan.
Subs not used: Marcus Murphy, Padraig Murnane, Thomas Fitzgerald, Sean Harrington, James McGann, Brian Óg Connolly, Louis Murphy, Ben Murray, Edmund Hillary, Leon Power, John O’Tiarnaigh(inj), Tadhg Mullane(inj).
