Ogonnelloe Hurling Club

A second half fight back which finished with a late Noel Daly major, just fell short of catching Smith O Briens in the Junior A League on Friday night.

Ogonnelloe were short a number of regulars for the match and like the Ballyea match, only had the bare 15 to start the match. Smith O Briens were also short a number of regulars.

The two teams started even enough in the first half. Ogonnelloe did have their fair share of possession in the first 20 minutes but failed to make it count on the score board. They were then hit with a body blow, as Smith O’Brien’s scored 4 goals in fairly quick succession.

The game was dead and buried at half time as it looked like Ogonnelloe would have a mountain to climb to get back into it.

Ogonnelloe started the better of the two teams in the second half and points from Noel Gavin, Michael Sheedy and Des Perry settled them into the game. Their first goal came from Jason Kirby as he took a pass 14 yards out and finished well to the net under pressure. Ogonnelloe were now hurling much better with John Barton, the two Mooneys and Noel Gavin now controlling the game in the middle of the field.

The second goal was a fine individual effort from Des Perry as he collected a ball about 30 yards from goal and despite being under pressure from 3 Smith O Briens defenders, he weaved his was to the edge of the square and kicked the ball to the net.

With Ogonnelloe applying all the pressure now further scores were inevitable. Michael Sheedy added a few frees along with another point from play before Jason Kirby found Noel Daly in space for him to blast to the net for the closing score of the game.

In the end Ogonnelloe ran out of time. The come back fell just short and Smith O Briens won out on a score of 4-10 to 3-9. Ogonnelloe were left to rue a number of missed chances early in the first half along with the concession of 4 goals.

Although disappointed with the first half performance, Ogonnelloe can draw a lot of hope from how they performed in the second half. Francis McNulty had another solid game at corner back beside Johnny McMahon. John Barton cleared a lot of ball from centre back and up front Jason Kirby and Michael Sheedy were a constant threat.

The Ogonnelloe Team lined out as :

1) Alan Kirby

2) Ger Murnane

3) Johnny McMahon

4) Francis McNulty

5) Patrick Mooney

6) John Barton

7) Brian Stritch

8) Joseph Mooney

9) Noel Gavin

10) Jason Kirby

11) Dermot Dinan

12) Des Perry

13) Noel Daly

14) Michael Sheedy

15) Eoin Kelleher