U-14B honours for Corofin-Ruan

Corofin-Ruan 3-8
Ballyea 1-10

IN a very entertaining U-14B Hurling Championship final at Cusack Park on Saturday, Corofin-Ruan captured the honours when the accounted for the holders, Ballyea.

The final scoreline says the margin was four points but the sides were much more closely matched with the result in doubt right to the final whistle. The game was in the second minute of injury time when Conor O’Loughlin’s delivery from midfield went all the way to the net to finally seal victory for the new amalgamation, which only came into being this season.
They took the lead in the very first minute with a point from wing-back Tony Neylon but 14 minutes went by before they had their next score, a goal from joint captain Mark Corry, whose effort from 45m went all the way to the net.
At this stage, a comfortable win for Corofin-Ruan looked likely as they had opened a 1-1 to 0-0 lead despite playing against the wind.
The game was 19 minutes old before Ballyea finally opened their account through Conor Lynch. From here to the half-time whistle, they were in control and picked off some great scores in the process.
Two further Lynch efforts from frees and a Sean Meaney point had them on level terms (1-10 to 0-4) with five minutes still remaining in the half.
Following a great save by the winners’ goalie Gearóid Cahill from Dean Minogue, Ballyea took the lead when Lynch converted the resultant 65’. Minogue then struck for a goal before Lynch converted another long-range free and Ballyea went to the break 1-6 to 1-1 in front.
Having to face the wind in the second half, one of the talking points at the interval was whether or not Ballyea’s five-point lead would be sufficient.
A Mark Corry point and a goal from Colin Haugh saw the winners cut the lead to the minimum within five minutes of the resumption. Things didn’t look good for Ballyea but a Conor Lynch free gave them hope as the standard of play improved.
Two superb scores from midfielder Conor O’Loughlin helped the winners move a point clear by the mid-point of the second half but two equally impressive scores from Dean Minogue had Ballyea back on level terms with 10 minutes remaining.
Minogue was unlucky to see his flick on a high delivery go narrowly wide with seven minutes remaining and as both sides fought tooth and nail for the upperhand a draw was looking increasingly likely.
Mark Corry converted a 30m free for the Corofin-Ruan combination four minutes from the end before O’Loughlin’s injury-time goal sealed victory.
Gearóid Cahill, Cathal Corbett, Ross O’Donovan, Conor O’Loughlin, Mark Corry and Colin Haugh impressed for the winners. Ballyea’s best were Mark and Liam Crowe, Dean Minogue Sean Meaney and Conor Lynch.
After the game, Bord na nÓg chairman Martin Reynolds presented the cup to the joint captains of the winning team, Conor O’Loughlin and Mark Corry.

Corofin-Ruan: Gearóid Cahill; Conor Wynne, Cathal Corbett, Eoin McMahon; Liam McGrath, Ross O’Donovan, Tola Neylon (0-1); Conor O’Loughlin (1-2), Damian O’Loughlin; David Hehir, Rory Conroy, Mark Corry (1-3); Nathan Bluett (0-1), James Tierney, Colin Haugh (1-1).
Sub: Cillian Clancy for Hehir (half-time).
Ballyea: Oisín Hennessy; Conor Donnellan, Peter Casey, Robert Mannion; Greg Allard, Mark Crowe, Liam Crowe; Dean Minogue (1-2), Eamonn Breen; Aaron Griffin, Sean Meaney (0-1), Conor Lynch (0-6); Aidan Lynch, Daniel Cleary (0-1), Michael McCarthy.
Referee: John Dolan, Clarecastle.