St Oliver Plunkett’s 1-15
De La Salle 0-6
HAVING won the junior B double in Cork, St Oliver Plunkett’s have set their sights on Munster domination – and they are off to a positive start.
The Carbery club’s hurlers were too strong for Waterford club De La Salle when they clashed in the Munster junior B hurling championship quarter-final on Sunday in Killeedy, Co Limerick.
The teams traded points in the first 15 minutes, scoring two apiece, which included two frees scored from De La Salle free-taker Martin Breathnach.
In a tightly-contested first half Plunkett’s Cian McCarthy had a shot at goal saved by De La Salle goalkeeper Stephen Brenner, the former Waterford inter-county shot-stopper. Plunkett’s were finding their feet, and Conor McCarthy added two points as they hit the front. Cian McCarthy, very accurate with the frees, increased Plunkett’s advantage even more; he finished with eight points, more than the De La Salle total.
Just before half time Michael Keohane had a shot at goal that broke loose around the square, Sean O’Donovan connected on it and the De La Salle goalkeeper took a step behind the line with the ball as he was trying to puck it away, and conceded a goal. This helped Plunkett’s lead 1-9 to 0-3 at half time.
In the second half De La Salle, home club of Waterford legend John Mullane, fought for every ball and pulled back two points. It could have been even better as De La Salle had a chance of a goal but Jamie O’Neill made a great save to keep the Plunkett’s goal intact.
Brian Walsh and Ronan McCarthy defended very well to keep Plunkett’s on the front foot, as Roy O’Driscoll nailed a fantastic point from the middle of the field in the second half to increase Plunkett’s lead. By the end, Plunkett’s had 12 points to spare as they marched into the Munster semi-final. The man-of-the-match award was presented to Plunkett’s former Cork minor hurler Cian McCarthy.
Plunkett’s will also play in the Munster junior B football championship in January in Knockaderry, Limerick.
Scorers
St Oliver Plunkett’s: Cian McCarthy 0-8 (7f); Conor McCarthy 0-4; Sean O’Donovan 1-0; Roy O’Driscoll 0-2; Michael Keohane 0-1.
De La Salle: Martin Breathnach 0-3f; Thomas Kearney, Lee Hayes, Sean Power 0-1 each.
St Oliver Plunkett’s: Jamie O’Neill; Gary McCarthy, Eddie O’Driscoll, Conor O’Driscoll; Brian Walsh, Niall O’Driscoll, Ronan McCarthy; Roy O’Driscoll, Sean Gazdar; Owen McCarthy, Conor McCarthy, Sean O’Donovan; Cian McCarthy, Michael Keohane, Padraig Healy.
Subs: Sean White for C O’Driscoll, Eoin McKenndy for S Gazdar, Sean O’Sullivan for P Healy, Barry Ryan for G McCarthy, TJ O’Driscoll for R O’Driscoll.
De La Salle: Stephen Brenner; James Cotter, Christopher Sheehan, Jeff Cahill; Ryan McCarthy, Thomas Kearney, Jack Kavanagh; Evan Hayes, Adam Doyle; Lee Hayes, Sean Power, Lorcan Kerry; Cormac Dawson, Jack Doughlas, Martin Breathnach.
