Fr. O'Neills (Cork) 4-13 Castleblayney 0-9 A faster, more skillful Fr. O'Neills deservedly booked their place in the final of the junior club hurling championship at the expense of Castleblayney in this fairly one-sided contest in Carlow on Sunday 29th January. The Cork champions took control right from the very start with the result never in doubt even from the early stages with a very young and well drilled Cork team getting into their stride right form the off. From the first whistle C'Blayney were on the back foot and found themselves six points in arrears within 5 minutes of the start. For the remainder of the game it didn't get any better for them but to their credit they battled away throughout with Declan Crowe, Jim McHugh and David Connolly to the fore. For Fr O'Neills, their wing half forward, Colin Buckley, was very impressive and won a lot of possession, as was John Flavin. Paudge Butler and Eoin Conway, who finished the game with a personal tally of 1-4. Fr. O'Neills got off to a lightning start and had a goal and three and three points on the scoreboard within five minutes, John Flavin getting the goal in the third minute. Flavin in fact proved a handful for Castleblayney all through and was central to a lot of the O'Neills attacking strategy. Rory Woods opened for Castleblayney with a point in the fifth minute and he scored a second from a free in the 10th minute but Fr. O'Neills responded with another period of pressure that yielded a goal and two points to put them in a strong position at the end of the first quarter. Castleblayney were struggling in most positions despite their best efforts and they found themselves and 11 points in arrears at the break, Quintin Higgins getting the O'Neills third goal in the 29th minute. Half time score Fr. O'Neills 3-8, C'Blayney 0-6. In the second half the trend was somewhat similar to that of the first although Castleblayney to their credit battled right to the end and did make life difficult for the Cork men for a couple of periods. Patrick Conlon had a point for Castleblayney in the first minute but they were not to score again for another 17 minutes by which stage Fr. O'Neills had tightened their grip with six further points between the 5th and 12th minutes to put the issue beyond doubt. A point by Rory Woods in the 18th minute was merely a token score with O'Neills completely wrapping up victory with a goal and a point in the final minutes, Eugène Conway getting the goal, to run out convincing winners. Teams and Scorers: C'Blayney: Hugh Cullen, Paddy Kelly, David Connolly, Patrick Conlon, Declan Crowe, Jim McHugh, Paul Murphy, Alan Lambe, Gary Boyd 0-1, Stephen Lambe, Rory Woods 0-5, Mickey McHugh, Brian McGuigan, Kieran Connolly, Patrick Collins. Subs: Gordon Colman for P Collins, Wayne Funcheon for M McHugh, Paddy McArdle for P Conlon. Fr. O'Neill's: David Dorgan, John O'Mahony, Dick O'Neill, Brian O'Driscoll 0-1, Raymond O'Neill, Brian O'Callaghan, Kieran Wall 0-1, Ger Holland 0-1, Billy Murphy, Colin Buckley, Quintin Higgins 1-0, Eddie Holland 0-3, Paudge Butler 1-1, John Flavin 1-2, Eoin Conway 1-4. Subs: Eoin Griffin 0-1 for B O'Callaghan, Ger Hennessy for B O'Driscoll. Tweet

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