Reviews: Good wins for Sarsfields and Upperchurch in junior A quarter finals

FBD Insurance Junior A Hurling Championship Quarter-Finals

THURLES SARSFIELDS 3-22

LATTIN CULLEN 3-18

In the first of last weekend’s junior A quarter-finals, Thurles Sarsfields had a brilliant and powerful victory over West champions Lattin Cullen in the first of a double header in Dundrum.

A fast start gave Thurles the platform to build towards victory with goals from Robbie Stapleton, the first of which giving his side a great opening 30 minutes as they led at half time 2-12 to 0-9.

Sarsfields built on their double scores advantage early in the second period and by the time Stapleton scored his second goal from a penalty in the 49th minute, it was as good as all over as they mid men led 3-17 to 1-11.

Lattin rallied somewhat in the final ten minutes to mae Sarsfields sweat a little, scoring 2-3 in a row in injury time, but it was far too late coming as Thurles booked their spot in the semi-finals.

There were good performances on the day from Robbie Stapleton, Caley Maher, Aidan Doyle, and Ciaran Woodlock, while Mark Lanigan also impressed with six points.

UPPERCHURCH DROMBANE 1-16

GALTEE ROVERS/ST PECAUN 0-6

Upperchurch Drombane had a great weekend in the junior championship before their seniors, with an easy victory coming against West runner ups Galtee Rovers.

This was a largely and unexpectedly comfortable encounter for Upperchurch, with early points from Loughlin Ryan, Pat Stevens, and a penalty from Pat Shortt in the after 22 minutes giving the mid champions a 1-5 to 0-4 advantage at the break.

The second half was all Upperchurch, and after early points from James Barry, Pat Stevens, and Conor Fahey it got even better for the mid men, when Galtee were reduced to 14 men.

The remainder of the contest was more of a processionary effort, as Upperchurch continued to add on the scores with the extra man to ease into the semi-finals.

MOYLE ROVERS 0-24

BORRIS-ILEIGH 1-13

Moyle Rovers backed up their south championship success with a hard fought, but deserved win over Borris-Ileigh in the first of a double header in Cashel last Sunday.

The first half was a very tight and tense, low scoring contest as Borris-Ileigh put in a massive physical effort to keep up to theMoyle Rovers players, with the side’s essentially going point for point up to half time, with Rovers leading by the minimum at 0-7 to 0-6.

The game went along similar lines in the first ten minutes of the restart with the sides deadlocked at 0-9 apiece, but Moyle Rovers fitness began to show as the half wore on, with Kevin Grace, Daire Luttrell, Luke Boland, and Dara Ryan doing real damage as they scored heavily in the remaining minutes of the match, and despite a late goal from Shane McCormack going into added time, there was too much ground to make up from a Borris-Ileigh perspective as the south men went one step closer to regaining their intermediate status.

For Moyle Rovers, Kevin Grace, Stephen Quirke, and Dara Ryan were the pick of the south men, while Borris were well represented by Shane McCormack, and Matty Stapleton, along with Colm Boyle who finished the day with 0-4 from play.

GRANGEMOCKLER BALLYNEALE 1-23

TOOMEVARA 0-24 AET

Drama aplenty was on show in the final of the double header in Cashel, as Grangemockler Ballyneale just about managed to shrug off Toomevara after extra time, along with a significant second half delay due to an injury to a Toome player.

This match was a stereotypical tit-for-tat battle, with there never being more than a score between the sides throughout the contest.

The first half was no exception, with Grangemockler getting up and running through Darragh Shelly and Mark O’Meara, while Toome had heavy scoring contributions from Shane Nolan from frees, while Aidan Cahill ended the half with three points, but the difference at the break was a goal from Grangemockler’s Sean O’Meara after 13 minutes which gave them a 1-10 to 0-10 half time advantage.

But Toome stuck at it in the second half and gradually started to claw back the lead with substitute Paddy Grace contributing two points when introduced, but it was Conor Delaney who starred for the north champions, scoring four second half points from play.

That had Toome back to a single point behind with nine minutes of normal time left, but a nasty injury to Toome’s Jim Duignan delayed the game for over an hour, as an ambulance was called to treat the stricken forward, and once play restarted, Grangemockler held onto that lead into added time, but Cian Ryan of Toome fired over a brilliant equaliser to send the game to extra time, where the south men’s greater fitness took over as they pushed on to claim a narrow and hard fought two point victory.