The senior hurlers looked to bounce back after a heavy loss away to Mac Uilin in their previous match 8-26 to 0-9 with a home tie against last seasons junior champions, Ros Earcain. We definitely got a much improved performance, when we led up to the final ten minutes but the Dreen men finished the stronger to run out the victors.
The junior champions started brightly knocking over three well taken points in the opening 4 minutes and this early on things looked ominous for us. However, good battling from Caoimhin Heaney resulted in Caoimhin Rainey taking control of the sliotar and his shot sailed over the bar to open our account. A nice pass from Liam McCaffrey found Chris Gallagher who duly fired over the bar. We were just getting back into the game when a high ball into the square saw us out number the Ros Earcain forward three to one but he somehow managed to win possession and fired to the net. Don Whelan pointed a long range free and after battling work by Caoimhin Rainey, Anthony Rowntree was able to strike to the net to leave the sides level after 15 minutes. We kept the foot down and James Winter fed Chris Gallagher who played the sliotar to Anthony Rowntree who duly obliged and cracked home his second goal in a minute and we led for the first time. Anthony Rowntree was on fire and in the next play struck an excellent point on the run. Both teams traded points from frees with Don Whelan (0-2) on target and with the final two points of the half from Ros Earcain, we held a goal lead at the break 2-6 to 1-6.
The second half started with both teams exchanging a brace of points from frees (D Whelan 0-2) and then went point for point with Colm McKee and Don Whelan on the mark to keep us with a goal advantage. Ros Earcain stuck three consecutive points to level the game but Chris Gallagher put us a point in front with a long range effort. Ros Earcain levelled again and we responded with a Stephen McGivern point again, edging in front. Ros Earcain replied with the next four points, two from frees and one from a 65 to take a goal advantage into the last 10 minutes, but the killer blow came when a ball high into the square somehow found its way to the net. We tried hard to bridge the gap but Ros Earcain finished the better tagging on another three points, winning on a score of 2-12 to 2-21.
Click here for photos of the game.
Scorers: Caoimhin Rainey 0-1, Chris Gallagher 0-2, Donn Whelan 0-6, Anthony Rowntree 2-1, Colm McKee 0-1 and Stephen McGivern 0-1
