Round 3 of the GoAhead Junior C Hurling Championship saw The St Brendan’s Hurlers, sponsored by Bodibro, face a Fingallians side who are 2 from 2 and who returned a score of 6-27 against St Brigid’s last Sunday.
But before we go any further, both the St Brendan’s Ladies 2nd and 3rd teams are getting ready for the Championship, starting tomorrow for the 3rd's and Wednesday for the 2nd’s, by playing their final games in their respective Cup Competitions.
For the 3rds, Sponsored by FTI Consulting, they were beaten 5-7 to 1-6 to Lucan Sarsfields in the Division 11A Cup, but it was still a handy tune up ahead of their opening Junior N Championship fixture away to St Margaret’s.
For the 2nds, Sponsored by Bartra Healthcare, they will go into their Junior G opener against Geraldine P Morans in a winning frame of mind thanks to a 3-16 to 4-9 victory over Clanna Gael Fontenoy in the Division 7a Cup, where Niamh Cooney, Niamh Byrne and Jude McCoy raised the green flags.
So onto this Sunday and The Swords side picked up where they left off last Sunday by scoring a goal after 20 seconds. Goalkeeper Brian Casserly would be considered unlucky when the slioter bounced off the bas of his hurley, but redeemed himself a few seconds later when his puckout found Niall Geary and then onto Rory Tynan to get on his favoured left side and score The Dark Forces opening point.
Two 2nd XV Footballers decided to sharpen up their match skills ahead of the Footballers championship next month by playing here today, the two, wing back Kevin ’76’ Berry and corner forward The Landlord Andy Moran contributed to the second point, the latter supplying the final pass to the former pucing over the bar.
Fingallians wanted to score as many goals as possible and had Casserly beaten for goal for a second time 3:50 into the contest. After 7 minutes was goal number 3 when a long shot was batted down by Casserly but only as far as the Fingallians forward who said thank you very much and goal number 3. However, Eoin ‘Quinn Roux’ Fallon vented his frustrations into a puc which yielded point number 3. 0-3 to 3-0 after 7 minutes.
A long morning ahead for the St Brendan’s Hurlers.
Or Was It?
Michael Harte made it 0-4 with a point from a free in after a foul on Pa Carey. A Fingallians bid for a fourth goal was momentarily thwarted by a timely catch from Mark ‘The Edge’ Kinsella and clearance from Luke ‘The Affordable Nuke’ Forde. After the Swords outfit finally raised their first white flag, Harte made it 0-5 to 3-1 with another free in after a Fallon foul.
Rory Tynan was goal hungry all morning and a bid for a goal ended when Tynan was penalised for overcarrying and Fingallians probably celebrated the free out with more enthusiasm than the three goals they scored thus far, but went on to hit a brace to make their tally 3-3. Eoin Fallon made it 0-6 for his side with a point from play after a final pass from Jack ‘The Relegator’ McCarron.
Tynan was in for goal again after catching a long ball off Liam Kennedy, but the Fingallians goalkeeper had to stretch himself to the limit to produce the save for a 65. But Hartes 65 hit the upright, cleared by the backs and yielded point number 4. 3-4 to 0-6.
McCarron made it 0-7 with a point from play after collecting a Fallon sideline cut and a rasping shot which could have been a goal.
After he fluffed a free in two minutes ago. Michael Harte made amends with a free in from 40 meters to make it 0-8. However, Fingallians eventually struck their fourth goal and a free in was the last action of a free flowing first half. Half time score St Brendan’s 0-8 Fingallians 4-5.
Cian Walsh unleashed his inner Liam Cahill during the half time team talk, and whatever he said, had the desired effect at the start of the second half when Liam Kennedy was barged in the chest 25 meters in front of goal, which Harte converted the free in, and then Kevin Berry won the puckout and passed to Kennedy, who rounded the Fingallians defence and the goalkeeper to puck the slioter into the back of the net. Harte hit a point from a free after another foul on Kennedy to make it 1-10 (13) to 4-5 (17).
Was there a Tipperary style comeback on the cards?
“No”, said Fingallians as they maintained an arm’s length lead by hitting goal number 5. But St Brendan’s kept plugging away and won another free in thanks to Andy Moran, which Harte converted, to make it 1-11 to 5-7, it was Moran’s last act of the match as another footballer, Alan ‘Mack Hansen’ Pierce entered the action as a sub.
It’s been all Michael Harte scoring wise as he made it 1-12 with another free in this time, Rory Tynan fouled when going for goal. The Fingallians goalkeeper was keeping busy to prevent a second goal and again has to push himself to prevent a Kennedy strike from going in but conceded a 65, where Tynan was penalised for a square ball. 1-12 to 5-9.
6 minutes to go and Rory Tynan finally got the goal he craved when a Harte free in was driven low, blocked by the Fingallians backs but only as far as Tynan who connected perfectly and into the net. Harte added another point from play after a Niall Geary turnover and final pass from Pierce.
Eoin Fallon notched up another point to keep the 6 point deficit and after the away side notched up another point, Liam Kennedy hit a low shot and again, the Fingallians goalkeeper was again on hand to produce another top drawer save for the 65, which Harte converted.
But there was no time left to get those two goals to rescue a point and Fingallians come away with the win and certainly will have a home Quarter Final.
Next up is an away fixture against a Clontarf side on fire, metaphorically, with returns of 5-16, 3-27 and 6-16 in their three Championship fixtures thus far. That match is on August 17th.
Final score from Longmeadows St Brendan’s 2-15 Fingallians 5-12
