Sarsfields 0-18-1-10 St Galls

By Kevin Herron

Sarsfields advanced to the last four of the Intermediate Hurling Championship after a 0-18-1-10 win over St Galls in the eagerly anticipated quarter-final clash at Rossa Park on Wednesday evening.

The Stewartstown Park men were much more industrious throughout the game with scores from over the field, whilst St Galls relied heavily on the free taking of dual player Tomas O’Ciarnan who converted 1-07 of the Miltown side’s scores from placed balls. They were clearly the better team but to their credit St Gall’s kept themselves in contention for most of the game and had corner-forward CJ McGourty taken a glorious goal chance with minutes remaining then who knows how things could have turned out. However Sarsfields full deserved their win and they must surely go into Saturday’s semi-final meeting with St Enda’s in confident mood.

Direct from Mark O’Neill’s throw in Sarsfields showed their hunger as they emerged from the first break victorious and midfielder Darragh McGuinness turned the ball over the bar to put them a point ahead.

A minute later Kevin McKernan converted a free to open his account for the evening and after a spate of carless shooting from Sarsfields in particular, McKernan made it 0-03-0-00 after 13 minutes.

It took St Gall’s fourteen minutes to register their first reply and it came courtesy of a free from Tomas O’Ciarnan who finally got the Miltown men off and running.

Within a minute the Galls would be afforded the opportunity to take the lead as CJ McGourty was clipped as he attempted to drive through a crowded Sarsfields defence and referee Mark O’Neill awarded a penalty.

O’Ciarnan took responsibility and made no mistake as he drove his fiercely struck effort high into the roof of the net off the hurl David Ward in the Sarsfields goal to make it 1-01-0-03.

Full-forward O’Ciarnan was St Galls reliable marksman, he landed a further three frees in a five minute spell with Kevin McKernan stroking over his first from play and third of the evening to put the Miltown side 1-04-0-04 to the good with ten minutes of the first-half remaining.

Corner-forward Donal McKernan split the posts on 24 minutes which began a revival from the Paddies and the sides were level with three minutes remaining as Kevin McKernan landed his second-point from play and his third from frees wasn’t far behind to make it 0-07-1-04.

On the stroke of half-time Sarsfields regained the lead through attacking right half-back Michael O’Callaghan who forged forward from defence to fire over and give his side a slender 0-08-1-04 lead at the interval.

Just like the first-half Sarsfields hunger was evident from the throw-in and Niall McKenna’s layoff to Daniel McKernan resulted in the opening score of the half.

Tomas O’Ciaran converted a free in response though James McKernan replied to restore his side’s two-point lead once more.

O’Ciarnan would bring his and St Gall’s tally to the evening to 1-06 eight minutes into the half, but anything the Miltown men came up with Sarfields would respond to and on 40 minutes McKenna linked up with Daniel McKernan for the second time and it paid off again as McKernan made it 0-11-1-06.

The sides continued to trade scores: O’Ciarnan halved the deficit for the third time in the half with a successfuly placed 65’ only for Daniel McKernan to split the posts from an acute angle and raise a white flag, despite anger from the St Galls supporters who claimed the ball had drifted wide.

Frees were then converted by O’Ciarnan and Kevin McKernan to leave the scores 0-13-1-08 midway through the second-half.

Sarsfields would edge three-points ahead with Kevin McKernan successfully converting his fifth placed ball of the evening, but within sixty seconds O’Ciarnan was on the score sheet again though on this occasion the full-forward landed his and his team’s first point from play with little over ten minutes remaining.

Tempers almost boiled over on the 52 second minute as CJ McGourty was booked for a tackle and Kevin McKernan converted the resulting free to make it 0-15-1-09.

St Gall’s chances would suffer a major blow with scorer of their 1-09 O’Ciarnan departing with concussion after an accidental collision.

St Gall’s sub goalkeeper Sean O’Hara then kept his sides chances alive as Michael O’Callaghan saw his close range shot blocked and when the Sarsfield’s right half-back got his shot away at the second-time of asking O’Hara was equal to his effort.

The Miltown men were in desperate search of a goal and the opportunity arrived when Niall O’Neill’s hand pass picked out CJ McGourty whose low effort was deflected behind for a 65’.

McGourty would pop the ball over the bar to make it a two-point game going into injury-time, but Sarsfields finished the game stronger with Kevin McKernan landing a super score off the back foot which was followed by another from namesake Daniel a super layoff from James McKernan.

Darragh McGuinness would hit the final score of the game deep into injury-time to secure a 0-18-1-10 win for his side and St Gall’s frustration was compounded when Niall O’Neill was dismissed for a second bookable offence on an evening to forget for the men from Miltown.

Sarsfields must quickly gather their thoughts as attention quickly focuses to a semi-final clash with St Enda’s at Corrigan Park on Saturday evening (7pm throw-in) as the Stewartstown Park club’s dream of championship successes at both codes burns brightly.

Sarfields: D Ward, P Corr, J Cunningham, J Daniels, M Callaghan (0-01), C Mervyn, C Caldwell, K McKernan (0-09,0-06f), D McGuinness (0-02), D McKernan (0-04), N McKenna, M Rea, D McKernan (0-01), J McKernan (0-01), G Lennon. Subs: R O’Neill for J McKernan (47 mins), J McKernan for M Rea (54 mins).

St Galls: K McGreevy, S Morrison, J McDanial, J Hopkins, R Wilson, N O’Neill, R Irvine, J McGreevy, P Friel, K McGourty, S Burke, S McAreavey, CJ McGourty (0-01f), T O’Ciarnan (1-09,1-08f), M Napier. Subs: B Bradley for P Friel (19 mins), S O’Hara for K McGreevy (34 mins), G McGreevy for M Napier, M Donnelly for T O’Ciarnan (57 mins).

Referee: Mark O’Neill (Glen Rovers, Armoy)