The senior hurlers moved back to the top of the league with a one point victory away to Ballela on Wednesday night. This was without doubt our hardest game of the season with both teams looking for the vital win.
We opened the game with Sean Prenter taking possession of the sliotar hand
passing it off to Anton McCaffrey who fired between the sticks to open our account. This was quickly followed by a Stephen McGivern point as he lost his man and slotted high over the bar. Ballela responded with two points to level the match and from here the game developed into point for point exchanges. Anton McCaffrey notched his second while Canice Mooney got on the score sheet with three points, two coming from long range frees. With the scores level at 0-6 Sean Prenter got his first point after battling through three Ballela players and under intense pressure stroked the sliotar over the bar; again Ballela levelled. A swift move from defense saw Michael Brady feed  the ball to Martin Mooney who quickly found Tommy Toland thirty yards from goal. A shimmy from Tommy, I think thats what it was, created the space for him to release the ball between the sticks for a well taken score. Our final two points of the half came from Canice Mooney, his first after a fine footed kick pass from Paul McGivern finding him as he raced up the right hand touchline and from fifty yards out he executed the score while his second point came from a free in front of the goals. A Ballela point left us 0-10 to 0-8 in front at the break.
We got off to the worst possible start in the second half when Ballela netted
to take a one point advantage but we levelled following good work from Rory McAvoy as he played the sliotar back from the end line for Anton McCaffrey to stroke over the bar from the 21 yard line. We upped the tempo with further points from Martin Mooney and Canice Mooney to take a two point advantage. However, Ballela struck back with another goal to retake the lead but a Paul McGivern long range strike from over 70 yards split the posts to level the game again. Ballela notched two points to regain the advantage but we then went on a five point scoring spree. Martin Mooney added two points with the second a well struck point on his left side, while Anton McCaffrey added another to his tally. Sean Prenter calmly got his second of the game while Canice Mooney increased his tally to 0-7.
With time almost up Ballela were awarded a free and their only option was to go for goal. A fierce shot was blocked out from the goals but in the melee that ensued the sliotar was blasted to the net to tie the game.  Gearoid Cosgrove took the puck out and landed the sliotar on the Ballela 21 yard line. The sliotar bobbled and was cleared but we gained possession and a high ball was struck in towards Anton McCaffrey. He fielded the sliotar and with the Ballela full back hanging off his back preventing him from making a swing with his hurl he kicked the sliotar over the bar for the winning point.
This was an enthralling encounter and one in which we showed our qualities. We battled all over the pitch and our never die attitude helped us over the winning line. Defensively we tackled hard and with a bit off luck could have prevented at least one of the Ballela goals. In attack we pointed some long range efforts and were clinical close in. This win puts us back on top of the league with two games to go but our next task is in the Junior Hurling Championship when we take on St Agnes on Wednesday 7 July at St Teresas with a 6.45pm throw in. This will be another tough task but we have the belief and the attitude to rise to the occasion and get another positive result.
