The senior hurlers let slip an eight-point advantage at the break to get out of Fennell Park with a draw after Ard Eoin fought back in the second half in this opening fixture of the Junior Hurling Championship.
We were on the scoreboard early on, when a puck out from Gearoid Cosgrove found Chris Gallagher who fed the sliotar to Marcas Toner, Deaglan Mooney supported the play on the outside, took possession and finished with an excellent opening point. Chris Gallagher then doubled our advantage with a pointed free from a central position about 35 metres out. Ard Eoin opened their account in the 4th minute also from a pointed free, but Chris Gallagher was again on target as he pointed a free from the right-side line and then followed up with another point after good work from Cormac Maguire. Stephen McGivern then struck a nice point before Ard Eoin registered their second point from a free. We opened a nice lead after 17 minutes when Stephen McGivern went on a great solo run, fed a handpass inside to Anthony Rowntree who struck to the net and from the resultant puck out he added another point. Colm McKee then struck the final point of the half after blocking the sliotar and the subsequent break was passed to him, and he duly converted to give us a 0-2 to 1-7 lead.
Ard Eoin set out their intentions immediately from the restart and a long-range point opened the second half scoring. They reeled off a further three points, all from frees, before we steadied things with another Chris Gallagher pointed free. Ard Eoin then struck their first goal of the game from Cormac Marron, the sliotar appeared to be heading out over the end line, we were slow to react, and the Ard Eoin forward slipped the sliotar across goal to the net. Another pointed free left a single point between the sides. We steadied the ship, and Chris Gallagher added another two points, both from frees, to his tally. Ard Eoin responded with two points from play, before points from Cormac Maguire, Colm McKee, Chris Gallagher and Stephen McGivern gave us a healthy lead with 4 minutes left on the clock. Ard Eoin then threw caution to the wind and in the space of a couple of minutes, goals from Dean Goodall put the home side in front. It was Chris Gallagher who came to our rescue as he fired over the equalising point to leave the final score 3-9 to 0-15.
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Scorers: Chris Gallagher 0-8, Deaglan Mooney 0-1, Stephen McGivern 0-2, Anthony Rowntree 1-1, Colm McKee 0-2 and Cormac Maguire 0-1
