Martin’s shade u.21 battle
In a wet Jenkinstown, St. Martin’s and Danesfort squared up to each in the preliminary round of the North U.21 Roinn B Hurling Championship. Luckily enough, the rain had eased off before the whistle started proceedings. Within half a minute, the first score was on the board when Luke Maher won the throw in and passed to David Breen. Before he could be tackled, Breen swiftly delivered the ball to Donal Shore to get Martin’s first point. Danesfort took their time to settle but once they did, they powered ahead with scores from a Ger Dunne free and a good point from Paddy Hickey. St. Martin’s had to battle hard for their next score which came by way of a Shane Kinsella free to put the sides’ level. With Paddy Hickey leading the Danesfort charge, they shot four unanswered points from the sticks of Colm Phelan, Cillian Treacy (2) and a pointed free from their instrumental Ger Dunne to go four points up (0-6 to 0-2). The momentum was very much with Danesfort. However, in the 22nd minute, when Dave Dooley was fouled in the square, net minder Jason Shore was called upon to take the resultant penalty for St. Martin’s. He smashed it home past Patrick Tynan and his defenders to put one between the sides. Less than a minute later, Conor Dowling and Gary Tynan traded points. Jack Bruton finished the first half scoring with a point for Danesfort to leave the half time score Danesfort 0-8, St. Martin’s 1-3.
It took until the 6th minute of the second half for the next score when Ger Dunne shot a lovely point for his side to put four between them. However, Martin’s Shane Kinsella pointed from a free near the sideline to narrow the gap again. While Danesfort went through somewhat of a dry spell, St. Martin’s upped their game to claw back the deficit with further scores from Shane Kinsella to bring the sides level once again. With each side really putting their hearts into the game, it was clear this was going to be a close finish. Gary Tynan hit back with a point for his side to go up by one as David Breen negated that score when he was set up by Shane Kinsella. While both sides fought doggedly, Luke Maher and Colm Phelan traded points as they remained level. There was no separating the sides as Dave Dooley shot over a fine point and Ger Dunne pointed a free. It seemed like Danesfort might take the spoils when Ger Dunne went in for goal but his shot went wide. It was a frantic race to the end as both sides struggled to gain the upper hand but it was Luke Maher who shot the winning point for St. Martin’s in 60th minute. Danesfort will be disappointed with themselves as they missed a few chances that could have won the game as St. Martin’s won on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-12.
Scorers: St. Martin’s: S. Kinsella (0-4, 3f), Luke Maher (0-2), D. Shore (0-1), J. Shore (1-0), C. Dowling (0-1), D. Breen (0-1), D. Dooley (0-1)
Danesfort: G. Dunne (0-4, 3f), G. Tynan (0-2), C. Treacy (0-2), C. Phelan (0-2), P. Hickey (0-1), J. Bruton (0-1)
Teams: St. Martin’s: J. Shore, S. Egan, T. Walsh, R. Kinsella, J. Dowling, B. Byrne, P. Brennan, L. Maher, S. Kinsella, A. Farrell, D. Breen, C. Dowling, D. Shore, D. Dooley, J. Callinan. Subs: R. Teehan (used), D. Walsh (used), A. Egan, D. Egan, A. Kelly, E. Mahony, R. Tynan
Danesfort: P. Tynan, J. Tynan, C. O’Neill, D. Knox, R. Leahy, D. Sheehan, B. O’Connor, P. Hickey, G. Tynan, C. Phelan, C. Mullally, G. Dunne, J. Bruton, C. Treacy, S. McKenna. Subs: B. Cullen (used), H. Bruton (used), D. Fitzpatrick (used).
Team Management: Seamus Tynan, Richard Nolan, Martin Dowling, Conor Kinsella.
Referee: Eugene Ryan
26th October 2013
