Croom's search for an elusive county under 21 hurling crown finally has finally ended with their comprehensive 1-12 to 0-4 win over Ballybrown at the Gaelic Grounds. Having been denied twice before at the final stage in recent years, the Maiguesiders claimed their first such title in impressive fashion as they easily brushed aside the challenge of a poor Ballybrown side. In light of their near total domination of the exchanges, it was ironic that it took Croom all of 11 minutes to open their account - Marcus Cregan doing the necessary from a free. For their part, Ballybrown had to wait 20 minutes to get on the scoreboard with Richard Kenny getting through for a point. However the longer the game wore on the greater the control exercised on proceedings by the Maiguesiders. Inspired by county under 21 player Peter Lawlor, Croom cruised ahead and a goal by Stephen Moore catapulted the would-be winners to a comfortable 1-6 to 0-1 half-time lead. It was a similar story after the restart with Hugh Flavin getting Croom off to a speedy start with a neat point. Although Ballybrown put together some fine passages of play, they never really looked like grabbing a liveline with a goal. Tweet

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