Gortnahoe far too polished as they easily account for Killenaule ahead of U21B decider

FBD Insurance U21B Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Gortnahoe Glengoole 0-17

Killenaule 0-5

Gortnahoe Glengoole eased their way into this year’s FBD Insurance U21B Hurling Championship Final after accounting for a robust but disappointing Killenaule team in the last semi-final fixture in Golden early on Saturday afternoon.

Having played with the breeze in the first half, Gortnahoe built up a six point lead to take into the break, but with some wayward shooting featured heavily in their play, the game was still up for grabs with Killenaule availing of the stiff wind in Golden for the second half.

Alas, it couldn’t have been further from the truth as Gortnahoe were by far the more slick and polished team in the second half, with their defensive effort led by the impressive Conor Gleeson to frustrate Killenaule, and with the sting taken out of the tail, the mid champions finished the game with aplomb hitting the last seven points of the game as they cantered over the winning line to set up a county final tilt against Silvermines next weekend.

Playing with the breeze present in Golden for the first half, Gortnahoe went about their business early by racing into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead with a pair of Damien Corbett (1 free) efforts and a brace of lovely points from play from Liam Hayes and Darragh Maher putting the south champions under the pump from the off.

Oisin Shelly was the provider on the Killenaule score in the opening ten minutes, picking up possession in midfield before trotting down the left wing to float over a lovely strike to get the south club off the mark, and it was back to two points by the 15-minute mark, with Luke Ryan pointing a huge free from some 90 yards to make it 0-4 to 0-2 with Killenaule finally get into the contest.

Again, Shelly was posing the biggest threat to the Gortnahoe defence and after some hard work from Johnny Gleeson to break up a long delivery, Shelly slotted over another beauty off his left to reduce it to one point, and only for a very smart save by Robbie Gleeson a minute later in the 17th minute - denying Dylan O’Dwyer’s whip from close range - the south men could have been in the lead.

Killenaule did salvage a scorable free after that goal chance which Luke Ryan gobbled up to equalise, but Gortnahoe continued to get sights of goal, with a few wides earlier in the half hampering their efforts, but they were back in the lead just before the 20th minute from a quick pair of scores from Corbett and a intercept from the resulting puck out being dispatched over the bar by Oisin Cleary.

Conor Gleeson added to that in the 23rd minute with the score of the game, gathering an aimless Killenaule delivery in his half-back line, before taking off on a trademark running down the right wing and, despite Killenaule pressure, he launched over a major on the run to open a three-point lead.

That Killenaule purple patch was well quashed at this stage as Gortnahoe took over the game completely in the lead up to the break with the Gortnahoe forwards looking potent, only for some poor shooting letting their opponents off the hook as they hit a total of nine first-half wides.

But some of their shooting did find the target in that dominant patch with Bobby Doheny, Tomas Meaney, and Kevin Laffan all pointing their first scores of the day to give Gortnahoe a deserved lead of 0-10 to 0-4 at the half-time whistle.

The first quarter of the second half was dour in comparison to the fare that was of a decent standard in the first half, with Gortnahoe going into consolidation mode early on in an effort to squeeze the hope out of Killenaule who had the aid of the breeze to come.

Luke Ryan reduced the arrears to five points on 36 minutes from his third placed ball, but that was to be a significant score for all the wrong reasons for Killenaule as they failed to register for the rest of the game as Gortnahoe took control once again in the final quarter.

Conor Gleeson was dominating his sector and had his second point of the day from a raking effort from midfield which landed over the crossbar, and with Killenaule all out of ideas and confidence, Gortnahoe started to gradually extend their lead for the remaining quarter.

Scores from Darragh Maher, Liam Hayes, Oisin Cleary, Tomas Meaney, and a final Damien Corbett free was the icing on the cake for the mid champions who were coasting to the finish line at this stage.

Killenaule never stopped going to their credit, but you got the sense for the entire second half that they weren’t going to have the ammo up top to reel back Gortnahoe, whose forward division was too hot to handle throughout in an impressive display given the conditions.

They will now go forward to the county final next Saturday where they will undoubtedly have a far sterner test from a good Silvermines team, but judging by today’s display, they will be full of belief that they can add to their roll of honour in this grade which they last won back in 2019.

Gortnahoe Glengoole: Robbie Gleeson; Brandon Ryan Webster, Charlie Tobin, Cormac Moloney; Adam Butler, Conor Gleeson (0-2), David Lanigan; Liam Hayes (0-2), Bobby Doheny (0-1); Paddy Norton, Darragh Maher (0-2), Oisin Cleary (0-3); Tomas Meaney (0-2), Damien Corbett (0-4f), Kevin Laffan (0-1).

Subs used: Cian Barnaville for Norton (45); Luke Kavanagh for Gleeson (60); CJ Lawlor for Corbett (60).

Killenaule: David McCormack; Daire O’Connell, Jack Hassett, Jack Healy; Cian Johnson Croke, Padraig O’Dwyer, Felix Quinn; Finn Nolan, Nathan Barrett; Charlie Cummins, Luke Ryan (0-3f), Oisin Shelly (0-2); Johnny Gleeson, Matthew Gleeson, Dylan O’Dwyer.

Subs used: Luke Fitzgerald for D O’Dwyer (29, temp); Jimmy Ryan for Cummins (HT); Luke Fitzgerald for Barrett (51); 

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess)