Kilbrittain 0-19
Ballygarvan 1-19
OLIVER O’BRIEN REPORTS
SCORING only five points from play in their latest outing, Kilbrittain hurlers are still waiting for their opening win in the Co-op Superstores Premier Junior Hurling Championship.
This loss to Ballygarvan on Saturday evening in Minane Bridge follows the draw against Barryroe and it leaves John Considine’s men with a must-win tie with Nemo Rangers in their final group game on September 6th.
Dylan O’Connor opened the scoring for Ballygarvan straight from the throw-in as the Carrigdhoun club started with a tempo they maintained throughout. Kilbrittain’s Mark Hickey responded with a pointed free but three points in the next five minutes from Kevin Lyons, Michael Cussen (free) and Niall Dowd from a very acute angle put Ballygarvan into an early lead.
Ballygarvan’s forward division were very sharp in the opening quarter, however Kilbrittain began to settle and points from Hickey (3) and Sam Shorten put Kilbrittain ahead for a brief moment.
Impressive Ray O’Halloran levelled the game on the quarter-hour mark, and following good play by O’Halloran and his namesake Piaras O’Halloran, Dylan O’Connor nudged Ballygarvan in front again. With the game flowing from end to end, Ballygarvan appeared to be the sharper in every line, whereas Kilbrittain were finding it difficult to make any inroads and were depending on the sharp shooting of Hickey to keep in touch.
Two Hickey frees either side of a point by Cussen were followed by the score of the half from Ronan Crowley as he collected the sliotar out by the side-line, twisted and turned and floated a fine point from an acute angle to put Kilbrittain ahead again.
Dowd hit a fine point in response and as the half neared its end, Hickey scored his seventh of the half. Ballygarvan finished the half strong though and with two late points from Cussen, went in at half-time with a one-point lead, Ballygarvan 0-10 Kilbrittain 0-9.
The opening exchanges of the second half were very stop-start with Cussen and Hickey converting three points from frees each. Kevin Lyons hit a fine point for Ballygarvan to increase their lead to two. Niall Dowd brought a fine save from Kilbrittain goalkeeper David Desmond but Cussen converted the resulting 65 to put them three up.
A fine move involving Cussen and Ray O’Halloran resulted in Dowd increasing the lead further. Josh O’Donovan and Colm Sheehan were working hard for Kilbrittain around the middle at this time with a fine run by O’Donovan that deserved a score, and a similar attack by Sheehan resulting in a hard won free, converted by Hickey.
Following this, once again, good play out the field by Cillian O’Regan and Cussen saw the Kilbrittain rear-guard carved open and Dowd got inside to blast the sliotar to the net. Cussen added a free soon after to increase the lead to seven and leave Kilbrittain with a difficult last 12 minutes.
Kilbrittain struck next with Hickey converting another free. Ray O'Halloran, who had a fine game throughout, scored a brilliant point for Ballygarvan to leave it 1-18 to 0-14 entering the final exciting ten minutes.
Credit due to Kilbrittain for not throwing in the towel and with points from Hickey (three frees) and a lovely point from Wall, the game was on a knife edge entering injury time. Kilbrittain needed a goal but it never materialised. Sam Dewey’s shot rose over the bar deep in injury time to make it a two-point game, but O’Halloran hit his third to secure the win for Ballygarvan.
Michael Cussen was immense for Ballygarvan especially during the second half with his aerial presence and good distribution of the ball. He was ably assisted by Cillian O’Regan, Kevin Lyons, Ray O’Halloran Niall Dowd, Evan and Dylan O’Connor. Kilbrittain were too reliant on Hickey for scores and will need to pull out all the stops against Nemo Rangers, who had a fine win over Barryroe, in the final game of the group stage.
Scorers
Ballygarvan: M Cussen 0-9 (7f, 1 65); N Dowd 1-3; R O’Halloran 0-3; D O’Connor, K Lyons 0-2 each.
Kilbrittain: M Hickey 0-15 (13f, 1 65); S Shorten, R Crowley, P Wall, S Dewey 0-1 each.
Ballygarvan: Daniel Hickey; Paddy Ryan, Richard O’Leary, Eoin Mackey; Steven Fenton, Kevin Lyons, Michael O’Mahony; Cillian O’Regan, Piaras O’Halloran; Cillian Murphy, Michael Cussen, Ray O’Halloran; Niall Dowd, Evan O’Connor, Dylan O’Connor.
Subs: Callum Mackey for Murphy (50), Gary White for Dowd (56).
Kilbrittain: David Desmond; Charlie Kenny, James Hurley, Eoghan Byrne; Tomás Sheehan, Tomás Harrington, Nick O’Donovan; Colm Sheehan, Josh O’Donovan; Ronan Crowley, Philip Wall, Mark Hickey; Bertie Butler, Sam Shorten, Declan Harrington.
Subs: Sam Dewey for Butler (42), Darragh Considine for Kenny (45), Maurice Sexton for Shorten (52).
Referee: John Ryan (Macroom).
