Mullinahone senior hurlers secure passage to knockout stages of the Seamus O' Riain Cup

Mullinahone  --------------------------2.17

Clonakenny --------------------------0-13

Mullinahone senior hurlers comfortably secured their presence in the knockout stages of the Seamus O'Riain Cup  when they accounted  for Clonakenny in Littleton on Sunday evening.

The south side were well worth their ten point victory as their levels of industry, hunger  and desire  were at a much higher pitch than their opponents throughout an entertaining clash.

The work ethic all over the field will have greatly pleased the Mullinahone mentors as will the clean sheet secured along with the ten point victory after they gave away  four first half goals in their round two game against Newport.

Mullinahone were the stronger team  and their dominance was greatly influenced by the strength they had down the middle of the  field in the key positions with Paul Curran, Eoin Fennelly,Alan Curran and Mikey O' Shea exerting a major influence.Top marksman Eoin Kelly again chipped in with a big score contributing eight points  while the two goals scored by Mullinahone were of the highest quality and came at the right time for the south side to strengthen their grip on the contest.

The first was a wonderful team goal that came nineteen minutes into the game to put a real gloss on a purple patch for Mullinahone.They had already scored four unanswered points  and the goal was enough to put four points between the teams.

The goal arrived as a result of a swift transition from defence to attack that involved Daire O'Brien, Gary Cronin and Michael Dunne before the finishing touch was entrusted to full forward Mikey O'Shea who made no mistake in  finishing to the net.It was  a score of pure quality and it was the difference between the two teams at the break as Mullinahone held a 1-7  to 0-7 lead.

Mullinahone pounced early in the second half to put themselves in a very strong position.Sean Curran, who had an outstanding game scored one of his three superbly taken three points of the game, Eoin Kelly converted a free  and the ever dangerous Michael Dunne picked off an excellent score in a great start to the first half for Mullinahone.

In the tenth minute of the second half Mullinahone struck to put the outcome of the game beyond doubt.Alan Curran and Martin Kehoe combined with some excellent link up play to create the opportunity for Michael Dunne who accelerated away from a couple of defenders and finished with some aplomb to the net to give Mullinahone a nine point lead.

There was no way back for Clonakenny at that stage.Cian O'Dwyer, one of their better performers on the night, went on to score the next three points from frees but Clonakenny failed to put Mullinahone under any great pressure as they lacked a major threat in front of goal.

Mullinahone proved much too strong and they continued to work feverishly with Colin Shelly  and Kevin Walzer to the fore in ensuring there was no let up as Mullinahone continued to apply the pressure in the closing stages.Clonakenny did manage to get back to within four points  but Mullinahone were never greatly troubled  and they scored the last six points of the game to record a ten point victory.

Eoin Kelly picked off three of  those, one was a beautiful strike from  play, Michael Dunne put over two exhibition scores  and substitute Jack Shelly contributed a fine score from a difficult angle as Mullinahone cruised to a well deserved victory.

Mullinahone

Alan Walsh, Daire O'Brien, Paul Curran, Gary Cronin, Colin Shelly, Eoin Fennelly, Kevin Walzer, Sean Curran,Alan Curran, Enda Keane, Eanna Ryan, Martin Kehoe, Eoin Kelly, Mikey O'Shea, Michael Dunne.

Scorers - Eoin Kelly 0-8,(6f's 1,65),Michael Dunne 1-3, Mikey O'Shea 1-1,Sean Curran 0-3,Jack Shelly 0-1,Gary Cronin 0-1

Subs - Jack Shelly for Gary Cronin

Clonakenny

Walter Byrne, Alexi Harty, Diarmuid Ryan, Tom Carroll, Declan Byrne,Willie Ryan, Donal Greed, John Joe Ryan, Jonathan Cody, Cian O Dwyer, Nicky Ryan, Matthew O'Sullivan, Michael John Carroll, Peadar Byrne, Bobby Bergin.

Scorers- Cian O'Dwyer 0-6,(5f's0),Bobby Bergin 0-3, John Joe Ryan, Nicky Ryan and Matthew O Sullivan  and Michael John Carroll 0-1 each  

Subs - Eoin Nesbitt for Jonathan Cody

Referee Phil Ryan (Knockavilla Kickhams)