Club Notes: 25th September 2017

Shamrocks GAA Club Notes ( kindly sponsored by Allen Engineering & Agri Sales Ltd.)

IHC, Shamrocks 0-10, Ballysaggart 3-18.
On a night even the most heartless person wouldn’t put a dog out, Shamrocks’ interest in the Intermediate Hurling Championship came to a very emphatic end with a comprehensive defeat by a rampant Ballysaggart who put up a very impressive scoreline given the conditions. ‘Saggart came flying out of the blocks and raced into an early lead, at one stage they led 6 points to 1 from Joe Leahy, before 5 successive points from frees by Eoin Murphy, and another from Joe gave us a one point lead, and gave Shamrocks some momentum. Unfortunately ‘Saggart got two pointed frees just before halftime to leave them leading 0-8 to 0-7 at the break. So we had every reason to be hopeful as we were to have a wind advantage in the second half. The second half started evenly enough with Edward Hynes and John Paul Lucey points answering Ballysaggart’s 3 scores, but two goals in quick succession completely turned the game on it’s head, and put the ‘Saggart men in control. The fact we missed a glorious chance of a goal in between their goals also proved pivotal, and from there to the end they popped over points from all angles plus another goal from a long delivery to consign Shamrocks to a serious hammering. It’s difficult to find anything positive to say about that defeat, it was a terrible night for hurling, but Ballysaggart managed to cope with the conditions, and we didn’t. The end result means we will face Ballinameela to stay in the Intermediate grade, and that won’t be an easy task. Panel; Ciaran O’ Keeffe, Padraig Ahearne, Tommy O’ Donovan, Brian Harnedy, Padraig Roche, Shane Roche, Jason Ahearne, Chris Murphy, Edward Lonergan, Stevie Lucey, John Paul Lucey (0-2), Cathal Herlihy, Eoin Murphy (0-5), Joe Leahy (0-2), Edward Hynes (0-1), Billy Hynes, Kelvyn O’ Farrell, Adam Crawford, Tom Roche, Martin Delaney, Alan Kelly, Eamonn Forbes.

Junior Hurling; Shamrocks 0-10, Brickeys 3-12.
To put the cap on a bad weekend, our Junior Hurlers were beaten on Sunday in Colligan by Brickey Rangers in the Western semi-final. This was a bad tempered game handled badly by the referee who seemed to lose control at times, and some bizarre decisions didn’t endear him to either team. Like the match in Cappoquin the previous night, we started badly and were 5 points to 1 down early on, but points from Jamie Murphy, Liam Dalton and Seanie Murphy got us back into the game before two goals conceded one after the other saw us lose ground. We did score three points from Jamie and Keegan O’ Farrell to leave the half time score 0-7 to 2-7. We needed a good start in the second half but it was Brickeys who struck with an early goal, and suddenly we were three goals down. We plugged away with points from Jamie and Bernie Kelleher, but could never catch up to a very slick Brickeys team. We congratulate Brickeys on their win, they were the better team on the day, but our first touch was not as good as previous games, and we made far too many mistakes, paying the price in the end. Unfortunately Sean Murphy, who was probably our best player on the day, had to go to hospital with concussion after the game, and we send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery. I must compliment our selectors Peter Morrisson, Joe Ahearne,Martin O’ Keeffe and Ciaran O’ Keeffe plus Dan Casey for their efforts during the year. Panel; Liam Murphy, Martin Delaney, Thomas Baldwin, Mikey O’ Neill, Sean Murphy (0-1), Tomas O’ Neill, Liam Dalton (0-1), Tom Roche, Padraig Tobin, Jamie Murphy (0-6), Bernie Kelleher (0-1), Edward O’ Neill, Keegan O’ Farrell (0-1), Dan O’ Neill, Eamonn Forbes, Alan Kelly, Nat Smith, Michael Lucey, John Baldwin, Seamie Tobin, Sean O’ Neill, James Walsh, Jodie O’ Neill, John A. Kelly.