Sunday 25 Nov 2007Junior A Hurling - Munster Club Championship

Páirc Uí Rinn, 15:00PM

Match Report Brian Canty Evening Echo November 2007

Barryroe overshadow their rivals to reach decider

Those whose decision it was to form the Munster Junior and All-Ireland Series for the respective county champions deserve a pat on the back. And all the evidence required was on show yesterday afternoon in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Barryroe, the Cork representatives and Ballysaggart, the Waterford champions, went at each other like two heavyweight boxers, for a place in the provincial decider. They slugged it out over 60 minutes and in the end it was the men from the rural west Cork town who were left standing after what was a truly outstanding game of hurling and one that both will look back on with a large degree of pride.

Both clubs came into this one with a number of similarities. They both represented small rural parishes that had recently claimed long awaited county honours. They both were backed by enormous vocal armies of support that created an almost surreal atmosphere. And they both even had the same colur jerseys which made it all the more interesting from a spectator's point of view.

It was a game that certainly didn't disappoint and in terms of entertainment, streets ahead of the county senior hurling final earlier in the year. The style of hurling was a no-nonsense 80s style approach where the sheer intensity of the exchanges was supplemented by some superb first time hurling. Consequently ot half-time as both sides trooped down the tunnel to widespread applause we wondered how they could maintain such a tempo for another 30 minutes.

Ballysaggart, located five miles north of Lissmore at the foothills of the Knockmealdown mountains, illustrated a blatant disregard for their underdogs tag as they raced into a 0-03 to no score lead after just four minutes, all from the stick of Christy Murphy who troubled the Barryroe defence with his pace early on. In fact, the Rebel players from Butlerstown, Courtmacsherry and Lislevane looked disillusioned during this phase as the usually reliable Kieran Griffin drove a few balls wide. Ciaran Hurley was also clear through on goal only to have his shot blocked and we wondered was this the side who romped to success over Charleville and Meelick in recent weeks. Gradually, though, they settled and when commanding centre-back Jason Fleming sent a high ball into the square, Denis Harrington reacted quickest and his ground strike rattled the net to level the sides after 12 minutes of play.

Following this was a phase of pandemonium as both teams went at it hammer and tongs. The Ballysaggart reply was instantaneous and similar in nature. A high ball appeared to be the trump card as both sides struggled to defend it all day. The route one tactic was employed in the 13th minute when the breaking ball fell kindly to Ronan Walsh who made no mistake from four yards. A minute later we had to wipe our eyes as the amazing happened. Yet another high ball was dropped on top of the Ballysaggart defence, this time gathered by Denis Harrington who instead of opting for a point, rifled home a stunning goal to tie the scores again. In the context of the game this score seemed crucial as it tied the scores despite Ballysaggart domination, and one got the feeling that an injection of confidence into Barryroe would see their fortunes reverse. This score did in fact prove crucial.

Padraig Collins had their first point following good approach work by the industrious Ciaran Hurley at midfield. Then Griffin found his range and two long range efforts in as many minutes, sandwiched by a fine individual attempt by Hurley to make it 1-03 to 2-04 after 23 minutes. In this period, they managed to put the shackles on Christy Murphy whilst growing in confidence as the minutes ticked. Griffin made up for some earlier misses with two 65s as well as one from play after good work by Padraig Collins to give them a comfortable 2-07 to 1-03 half time lead.

The second half wasn't the same high octane energy charged affair as fatigue became a factor. Griffin had another free on the restart before Ciaran Hurley, who was a candidate for man of the match took off on another marauding run and flashed over to open up a 2-09 to 1-03 lead. Christy Murphy and Griffin then swapped frees before Tom Landers managed another for Ballysaggart to make it double scores with 40 minutes gone. Then Barryroe found another gear, or else the Waterford side geared down as Adrian White and Adrian Fleming came more and more into it. Fleming engineered two frees which Griffin duly converted and now it looked like a bridge too far for Ballysaggart. They refused to lie down though and came roaring back. Ronan Walsh had a second goal but then was bizarrely substituted before Eugene O'Brien narrowed the margin to seven with five minutes to go. But the mountain was made insurmountable as Tom Landers was given a straight red. With the game gone from them, it naturally petered out and Barryroe can now look forward to a Munster Final date with Tipp champions Moyle Rovers in a few weeks.

Barryroe: G.Keohane, B.O'Brien, T.Carroll, T.Harrington, G.Coleman, J.Fleming, A.White, C.Hurley 0-02, K.McCarthy, G.O'Leary, A.Fleming, K.Griffin 0-09 (0-06f, 0-02 65), D.Harrington 2-01, P.Collins 0-01, J.O'Donovan. Subs used: C.Cahalane for K.McCarthy (57), P.Fleming for J.O'Donovan (58)

Ballysaggart: M.Meagher, M.Kearney, F.Meagher, K.Fennessy, G.Fennessy, P.Carey, D.Devine, E.O'Brien 0-01, T.Landers 0-01, K.Cashell, B.Murphy, C.Murphy 0-05 (0-04f), R.Walsh 2-00, A.Meagher, B.Kearney

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