Intermediate Hurling Championship – Group 1
Saturday 27th July
Report by Niall Kelly
St Gall’s 1-21 Glenariffe 5-18
Milltown Row played host to a captivating Championship duel between two free-flowing and attacking sides. Curtain raisers can often be attritional, rather cautious affairs but this one was far from it and the spectators dotted along the side line were treated to an absolute deluge of scores right from Ray Mathew’s first whistle. You simply couldn’t take your eyes off it. Thirty scores in the opening thirty minutes should tell you all you need to know. With the sides level on ten different occasions throughout the opening period, it was nip and tuck between the two. The difference in the end – ruthlessness in front of the net which the Oisins had in abundance when it mattered most. Three Glenariffe goals in the final ten minutes of this pulsating encounter added a little extra gloss to a polished performance from the men from the Glens. A special mention must be extended to hat-trick hero Seanie McIntosh who spearheaded their attack; notching up a dazzling individual tally of 3-04 over the hour.
With merely 50 seconds on the clock, both sides had already opened their accounts as Jackson McGreevy and McIntosh exchanged early frees before the visitors nudged two clear thanks to Oliver Kearney and another from their mercurial number fifteen. With their tails up, the men in green surged forward in sight of a goal and were unlucky in their search as St Gall’s stopper Kurtis McGreevy pulled off an excellent save to deny Orin O’Connor from close range.
St Gall’s replied to this close shave emphatically and conjured up their own goal chance. Again, the keepers were in the limelight with Paul McMullan on hand to deny Ronan Crossan, but he was powerless to stop Jackson McGreevy who stormed in to blast home the rebound and produce the game’s first major with five minutes on the clock.
Unperturbed, the Oisins replied instantly via the hurl of Brogan O’Connor who fired over from range to level matters. Scores were flying over tit for tat as both teams wrestled to gain the ascendancy. Two points from St Gall’s ace Sean McAreavey were cancelled out thanks to efforts from McIntosh and Kearney again.
Neither side could break away from the other and it really was a case of you score, we score. The hosts sought about forcing some daylight between the sides as Jackson McGreevy fired over two placed balls and set up another white flag with an audacious flick behind himself to pave the way for Ronan Crossan to guide over his second of the evening. However, Glenariffe’s heavy attacking artillery were on hand to respond every time as Kieran McKendry, Alex O’Boyle and Seanie McIntosh split the posts to bring about yet another deadlock.
It then seemed that the men in green had established a bit of breathing space as they gained a three point cushion thanks to points from Conor Patterson, O’Boyle and Odhran Gillan. However, the Milltown men came roaring back firing over the next four points unanswered with the pick of the bunch coming from Mark Napier who guided his effort between the posts to perfection from a tight angle to edge into a slender one point lead with four minutes of the half remaining.
What followed was perhaps the most crucial score of the opening thirty. A bustling drive forward from Orin O’Connor presented an opportunity for Seanie McIntosh to gain his side’s first major, an opportunity which was ruthlessly despatched as he drilled his effort low and hard out of reach of the despairing McGreevy. O’Connor and Jackson McGreevy then exchanged points to leave the score 1-15 to 1-13 in favour of the visitors who would refuse to relinquish their lead for the remainder.
Scores were a little more at a premium in the second period, or at least they were for this games’ exceptionally lofty standards. The visitors resumed proceedings in a similar fashion to how they had ended the first, with another vital goal as Conor Patterson put the finishing touches on a move which was forged by Alex O’Boyle’s sheer tenacity driving forward.
Despite the setback, the hosts responded admirably and refused to lie down. In fact, they held their opponents scoreless for the next twenty minutes. Their attacking approach centred around Patrick Friel’s long balls in to the inside forwards which worked a treat as Sean McAreavey, Fergus Donnelly and Mark Napier all split the posts. Tomás O’Ciaran and Ronan Crossan followed this up with two contenders for score of the game. O’Ciaran’s was a monster effort from deep in his own half with Crossan having absolutely no right to score from the ridiculously acute angle he found himself in. Game on once again it seemed.
The men in blue were now piling on the pressure as they continued to blaze the comeback trail. Their quest appeared to be bolstered when Niall Murray received a second yellow card for a pulldown with ten minutes left on the clock. Napier tapped over the resulting free and with a mere point separating the sides, it seemed a grandstand finish was in proposition.
McIntosh and his comrades had other ideas though as they left their opponents shell-shocked with three goals in nine minutes. A Brogan O’Connor goal was sandwiched between two majors from Glenariffe’s sharpshooter to complete his hat-trick. St Gall’s desperately tried to muster a goal of their own to test their counterpart’s nerve but the opportunity failed to materialise. Mark Napier and Dubhaltach MacLiam’s efforts from range found their mark but it would be too little too late as the damage had been done.
Credit to both teams for an absorbing spectacle. With the pendulum of momentum swinging to and fro for the majority of the game, St Gall’s will feel that the nine point margin of victory perhaps didn’t fully reflect their efforts and they can take solace in the fact that they refused to throw in the towel. For Glenariffe, it was the perfect start to their campaign. They will certainly now look to keep the momentum going in their next game against Glenarm and will once again look to the prolific forward line to fashion another victory.
Teams:
St Gall’s:
K McGreevy; D Churchill, E Rush, O McIlhatton; P Friel, T O’Ciaran (0-01,) R Irvine; J Hopkins, F Donnelly (0-02,) J Hopkins; N O’Neill, M Donnelly (0-01,) R Crossan (0-03;) S McAreavey (0-05,) J McGreevy (1-04,) M Napier (0-04)
Substitute scorer:
D MacLiam (0-01)
Glenariffe
P McMullan; P McIlwaine, N Murray, C McIlwaine; C Patterson (1-01,) M Haughey, D Kearney; O Kearney (0-03,) O Gillan (0-01;) K McKendry (0-02,) A O’Boyle (0-04,) R Leech; B O’Connor (1-02,) O O’Connor (0-01,) S McIntosh (3-04)
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