Ballyea in control as Kelly hits a dozen

Ballyea 2-18   Broadford 0-12

Dominant in the half-back line, where Niall Keane, Paul Flanagan and Cathal Doohan held the upper hand, Ballyea were deserving winners over Broadford in this first round Senior B Hurling Championship tie at Sixmilebridge on Sunday.

At the end of a closely fought first half, the winners were three points clear, 0-8 to 0-5. The game continued in a similar vein in the early stages of the second half until Aonghus Keane found the net for the winners.

Substitute Martin O’Leary hit 1-1 while the introduction of Tony Griffin, shortly before half-time also helped the team. The former county player contributed 0-2 and won a lot of valuable possession for his side.
Tony Kelly was their top scorer with a dozen points.

Broadford ended with 14 men after Cathal Chaplin picked up a second yellow card at the end of normal time.

Ballyea: Shane O’Neill; Declan Keane, Jack Browne, Brian Carigg; Niall Keane, Paul Flanagan, Cathal Doohan; Tony Kelly, Stan Lineen; Niall Deasy, James Murphy, Gearóid O’Connell; Francie Nealon, Aonghus Keane, Francie Reilly.
Subs: Tony Griffin for J Murphy, Martin O’Leary for Nealon and Brian Murphy for Doohan (inj).
Scorers: Tony Kelly (0-12), Martin O’Leary (1-1), Aonghus Keane (1-0), Tony Griffin (0-2), Niall Deasy, James Murphy, Gearóid O’Connell (0-1) each.
Broadford: Eoin O’Brien; Brian Taylor, Kieran O’Connell, James Gunning; Caolan Cox, Aonghus O’Brien, Niall Moloney; Cathal Chaplin, Diarmuid Moloney; Mark Moloney, Stephen Gunning, Pádraig Taylor; Shane Taylor, Declan Teefy, Danny Reddan.
Subs: Donie Whelan for Reddan, Ciarán Corcoran for S Gunning, Craig Chaplin for Teefy and Damian Keniry for S Taylor.
Scorers: Diarmuid Moloney (0-8), Cathal Chaplin, Pádraig Taylor, Declan Teefy, Donie Whelan (0-1) each.
Referee: Jim Hickey, Cratloe.

O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-17   Smith O’Brien’s 0-9

O’Callaghan’s Mills justified favouritism when overcoming Smith O’Brien’s at Sixmilebridge on Sunday but they were made battle all the way by an outfit that has lost a lot of their players from recent years to emigration.

The Mills, who were deserving winners, led at the break by six points, 1-6 to 0-3, the goal coming from full-forward Conor ‘Rocky’ Cooney, their top scorer with 1-3 to his credit.

As the three-quarter stage of the game approached, the Killaloe outfit had closed the gap but then they lost Micheal Ryan to a second yellow card and this proved a major blow to their chances.

O’Callaghan’s Mills powered on to a merited win, which sees them remain unbeaten in competitive action this season.

O’Callaghan’s Mills: John Cooney; Ger Frost, Adrian Donovan, Gerry Cooney; Kevin O’Callaghan, Pat Donnellan, Niall Donovan; Bryan Donnellan, Aidan O’Gorman; Adrian Flaherty, Conor Cooney (Ermhill), Jonathon Lyons; James McMahon, Conor ‘Rocky’ Cooney, Gary Neville.
Subs: Cathal McKeogh for J McMahon (inj), Diarmuid Hehir for Flaherty and Michael McGrath for B Donnellan.
Scorers: Conor ‘Rocky’ Cooney (1-3), Adrian Flaherty (0-4), Aidan O’Gorman, Jonathon Lyons (0-3) each, Gary Neville (0-2), Diarmuid Hehir, Niall Donovan (0-1) each.
Smith O’Brien’s: Mark McInerney; Kevin McEvoy, Cian Nolan, Mark Stritch; David Gough, Seamus Gleeson, Liam Walsh; Micheal Ryan, Brian McInerney; Anthony O’Sullivan, Dean Sinnott, Mark O’Halloran; Caimin Quigley, Kevin Walsh, Noel McInerney.
Subs: Kevin McCarthy for B McInerney and Tommy Reddan for Quigley.
Scorers: Kevin Walsh (0-5), Caimin Quigley (0-2), Liam Walsh, Kevin McCarthy (0-1) each.
Referee: Fergal Gray, Feakle

Scariff 3-7   Wolfe Tones 1-10

The sides were level three times in the opening minutes of this tie played at Sixmilebridge on Saturday evening.

Scariff went into the game as favourites and they scored first through Conor McNamara. John Guilfoyle replied for the Shannon men before McNamara hit the game’s first goal in the third minute. This was quickly cancelled out when Bobby McPhillips found the net with a Wolfe Tones penalty. Daithí O’Connell and Cathal Nash then exchanged points, all of which suggested a very tight contest.

Scariff led by a point when Barry Nash scored their second goal five minutes from the half-time whistle and this helped his side to lead 2-5 to 1-5 at the break.

Wolfe Tones were struggling in a number of areas and they were dealt a big blow when the experienced Brian O’Connell had to retire. He was replaced by his brother, Gary, just before the break.

Two early second-half points brought the Shannon men to within a point of the winners. From here to the finish, Wolfe Tones were guilty of some very bad wides, both from play and frees and these certainly proved costly. Ten minutes from time, Conor McNamara hit his second and Scariff’’s third goal, a score that killed off the Shannon side’s hopes of victory.

Darragh Kelly, Michael Scanlan, the Nash brothers, Alphie Rodgers, Ross Horan and Conor McNamara did well for the winners.

Daithí O Connell, Kevin McCafferty, Bobby McPhillips, Gary O’Connell, John Guilfoyle, Jamie Roughan and Joe McGauley did best for Wolfe Tones.

Scariff: Shane Mulvihill; Shane McMahon, Darragh Kelly, Pádraig Brody; Michael Scanlon, Cathal Nash, Matthew Horan; Alfie Rodgers, Diarmuid Nash; Conor McNamara, Shane Corry, Ross Horan; Austin Madden, Barry Nash, Mark Mulvihill.
Scorers: Conor McNamara (2-1), Barry Nash (1-1), Ross Horan (0-3), Cathal Nash, Mark Mulvihill (0-1) each.
Wolfe Tones: Trevor O’Donnell; Declan McCarthy, Brian O’Connell, Shane O’Sullivan; Jamie Roughan, Bobby McPhillips, Stephen McInerney; Kevin McCafferty, Daithí O’Connell; David Dunne, John Guilfoyle, Barry Loughnane; Joe McGauley, Brendan Hughes, Andy Shanagher.
Subs: Gary O’Connell for Brian O’Connell (inj), Craig O’Brien for Dunne and Gareth McPhillips for Shanagher.
Scorers: Bobby McPhillips (1-1), John Guilfoyle, Gareth McPhillips (0-3) each, Daithí O’Connell, Barry Loughnane, Joe McGauley (0-1) each. Referee: Johnny Healy (Smith O’Brien’s).

Ruan 4-13   Éire Óg 2-15

HURLING with a championship ferocity not matched by Éire Óg, Ruan scored a well-deserved win over the town club in Clarecastle last Saturday evening.

Full-forward Aidan Lynch was Ruan’s main man, scoring 2-4, with both goals coming in the frantic closing minutes.

The winners led 1-7 to 0-8 at half-time, with Patrick Keegan scoring their goal in the opening minute. When supplied with quick ball, the Éire Óg full-forward line looked sharp. David Reidy, Shane O’Donnell, David O’Halloran and Tadhg McNamara pointed for the Ennis club to keep them in contention.

Under the cosh for periods in the first half, Ruan opened their shoulders late in the half with John Punch, Lynch and Jonathon Clohessy pointing.

The Ennis men were dealt a serious blow early in the second half when David Reidy had to leave the field with an eye injury. Two Ronan Keane goals brought Éire Óg right back into it and, in fact, Ruan led by just two points, 2-11 to 2-13, minutes from time. Caimin Howard scored Ruan’s early first-half goal but Aidan Lynch’s late goals secured a famous win for Ruan, who played with admirable heart and determination.

Ruan: Patrick Roughan (captain); Gary Bell, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke; Eoin Hanrahan, Jonathan Clohessy, Damien McDonnell; Killian Ryan, Tadhg Hanrahan; John Punch, Michael Vaughan, Brendan Lyons; Patrick Keegan, Aidan Lynch, Caimin Howard.
Subs: Conal O’hÁiniféin for Brendan Lyons and Darragh Roughan for Leon Quirke.
Scorers: Aidan Lynch (2-4), Caimin Howard, Killian Ryan (1-0) each, Jonathon Clohessy, John Punch (0-3) each, Tadhg McNamara, Michael Vaughan, Patrick Keegan (0-1 each).
Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Liam Corry, John Mulcahy, Ciarán Hanna; Ciarán Russell, Kevin Moynihan, Aaron Fitzgerald; Ronan Keane, Marc O’Donnell; Barry Nugent, Brian Dolan, Graham Glynn; David O’Halloran, Shane O’Donnell, David Reidy.
Subs: Thomas Downes for David Reidy (inj).
Scorers: Ronan Keane (2-0), David Reidy (0-6), David O’Halloran (0-4), Shane O’Donnell, Graham Glynn (0-2) each, Brian Dolan (0-1).
Referee: Jim Hickey (Cratloe).