MINOR A HURLING SEMI-FINAL: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-22 Bruff 1-12. Our minor hurlers march on to the county final after an imperious second half performance saw them claim victory over South champions Bruff. We didn't have the best of starts, and it was Bruff who flew out of the blocks, opening the scoring with a goal which was an early blow to our confidence. And in the early stages, Bruff did look like much the better side, scoring a free and a wonderful score from near the corner before we opened our account. That point came from Lorcan O'Leary who drifted into space from centre-forward after being picked out by Kyle Hayes and he turned to slot between the uprights. But Bruff still had dominance at puck-out time and were making inroads, and also scored the next two points to open the gap out to six points.

 

But credit to our lads, they never panicked and they began to eat into the lead. Lorcan stepped up again to fire over a great score before Jack Mullane was fouled, and Adam Butler got on target with his first score of the day. Two more scores for Bruff sandwiched a great score from Kyle Hayes, who won his ball, strode forward from centre-back and slotted between the uprights. It seemed to be turning point of the game, as our lads had finally woken up. Bruff still led by five points but for the rest of the game, we would outscore them by 18 points to 6. It began with a fantastic puckout from James Mason plucked from the air by Adam Butler and sent over the bar, a very impressive score which roused the team and this was followed by two frees, one an accurate strike from distance from the stick of Liam Griffin, the other from 20 metres out from Adam Butler after Naoise McGarrigle was fouled on his way through to goal. Bruff did get the next score from play, but we managed to rattle three-in-a-row before half-time to bring the scores level. Adam Butler continued his good record on the frees, before Kyle once again found Lorcan and he converted his third score from play; a big first-half contribution from him. Half-Time: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-10 Bruff 1-7.

 

Bruff opened the scoring in the second half with a good free from distance, but we were soon back on level terms. Adam Butler showed tremendous vision to pick out an excellent forward run by Darragh O'Brien and the marauding wing-back had no trouble in firing between the posts. Dylan Corrigan had had a quiet first half, but he really sprung into life in the second period to terrorise his marker. The quality of service into the full-forward line from the likes of Kevin O'Shaughnessy, Kyle Hayes and Darragh O'Brien was very good in that second half and it allowed the forwards to flourish. Dylan evaded his marker to put us into the lead for the first time, and about a minute later, he raced right through the heart of the Bruff defence and fired over the bar. Conor Staff followed this up seconds later with a mighty score from distance and our lads were fully-firing at this stage.

 

Bruff were slightly struggling at this stage, momentum was definitely with us, but had a free to settle to nerves and bring it back to a two-point game. But Shaun Barry, who made an excellent contribution in the second half, linked up excellently with Adam Butler who was now on fire and was not going to miss. Another Bruff free preluded those two linking up again, a really clever flicked handpass from Shaun took out two markers and Adam gobbled up the opportunity with another point from play. Soon it was to be Shaun himself on the scoreboard. Kyle, who really took control in the second half, did brilliantly to dispossess his man, Kevin O'Shaughnessy burst onto it and found Shaun in lots of room and he made no mistake to extend our lead out to four points.

 

Bruff had another free to pull it back to a goal between the sides, but there was no stopping us at this stage, the Kildimo/Pallaskenry machine was in full flow and we powered home to victory. Dylan Corrigan was giving his marker nightmares, and he had to resort to dragging him and Adam fired over the free. Stephen O'Brien then went on a rampaging run, he had given a good display in the backline alongside the warrior-like Akash Chaudri and the commanding Mikey Hayes. Now, he burst right through the Bruff backline, offloaded to substitute Darren Whelan, who showed clever hands to feed Jack Mullane who made no mistake with his shot.

 

Adam followed this up with his fourth point from play, an impressive haul from him and Dylan was to get his third soon after, when he was picked out with a brilliant pass from Liam Griffin. Bruff scored another free but we rounded off the scoring with another well-struck effort from distance from Liam which gave us the victory on a seven-point margin. It was a really impressive display in the second half, with nine different players getting on the scoresheet. Some of the teamwork and the distribution into the forward line was top-notch. We now face into a county final against Newcastlewest or Kilteely/Dromkeen and we hope that people will get out in support of the lads; they are playing some wonderful, slick hurling and are showing that the future of the club is bright!

 

Team: James Mason; Akash Chaudri, Mikey Hayes, Stephen O'Brien; Kevin O'Shaughnessy, Kyle Hayes (0-1), Darragh O'Brien (0-1); Liam Griffin (0-2, frees), Conor Staff (0-1); Shaun Barry (0-1), Lorcan O'Leary (0-3), Adam Butler (0-9, 0-5 frees), Naoise McGarrigle, Dylan Corrigan (0-3), Jack Mullane (0-1)

 

Panel: Darren Whelan (for Naoise McGarrigle), Dylan Finan (for Kevin O'Shaughnessy), Jack Ryan (for Jack Mullane), Luke O'Keefe, Mike Nash, Kieran Bourke

 

INTERMEDIATE HURLERS: The replay of our vital county semi-final versus Pallasgreen is due to take place next Saturday, 29 October in Bruff at 2pm. It is a huge game for the club and we would hope that as many people in the community get out in support of the lads; your support is always appreciated. Keep an eye on the club Facebook page for any updates regarding venue/time.

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