Well done to our Senior hurlers who booked their place in "FBD Insurance" County Senior Hurling Championship Quarter Final after topping Group 4 with a hard fought victory over neighbours Upperchurch Drombane in Semple Stadium last Sunday evening.
The lads went into the game fully aware of the task that lay before them, a win would guarantee them through as group winners thus avoiding the other top seeds from groups one to three in the Quarter Final draw. Lose or draw and they would be relying on other results to determine our fate.
Going into the game we expected a stiff physical challenge from The Church and that's exactly what came our way in the opening exchanges. They got a dream start inside a minute when Michael Lee's half blocked shot from the New Stand sideline deflected into the hands of full forward Jack Butler on the 14 yard line who powered through to rattle the net. Such was the level of intensity there was few scoring opportunities from play as both teams battled hard for possession, three Maher frees including three from Kevin and one from Brendan kept us a float but Paudie Greene's placed ball striking kept Church man ahead as they led 1-04 to 0-04 at the water break.
The physical nature of the game continued for the remainder of the half, another free each from Brendan and Kevin along two excellent scores from the in form of Shane Kenny and Jerry Kelly at centre forward bridged the three point gap as the sides went in 0-08 to 1-05 at the break.
It was clear our forwards would need to have a greater impact on the game in the second half and Niall Kenny was the man who stepped up to the plate. Winning a couple of vital frees due to his fantastic aerial ability off Upperchurch full back Matt Ryan. As the barrage of balls rained down on the opposition full back the pressure eventually told when Niall fielded an excellent diagonal ball in from his brother Conor before rounding his man and batting the ball past the onrushing Ciaran Shortt planting the ball in the back of the Upperchurch net to finally put a bit of daylight between the two teams. A fine individual effort from JD Devaney then stretched our lead out to five points. The Church rallied once more with scores from Gavin Ryan and the ever reliable Paudie Greene keeping them in touch but two Kevin Maher points including one from play along with another score from man of the moment Niall Kenny gave us a commanding six point cushion as we reached the second half water break.
It was simply a case of keeping the scoreboard ticking over after that two more Maher frees and a fantastic individual score from wing back Ciaran Cowan maintaining our healthy advantage. The Church had their second goal of the game in injury time when substitute Pat Shortt unleashed a rapser of a 21 yard free to the left hand corner of our net but late strike from Jerry Kelly and substitute Jody Harkin saw as over the line as we ran out 1-20 to 2-10 winners sealing our place in the knockout stages as Group Winners.
In a repeat of last years last eight tie we now face our age old neighbours and rivals Drom Inch in the Quarter Finals. This game will take place on Sunday the 30th of August in Semple Stadium at 6pm. We will keep you updated on coverage of the via Live Stream and Twitter closer to the game.
Finally we would like to congratulate our Senior Management and Players on their progression to the knockout stages and wish them the best of luck as we aim to make the last four!
Borris Abú!
Teams and Scorers:
- Borris-Ileigh
James McCormack
Liam Ryan, Seamus Burke, Sean McCormack
Ciaran Cowan (0-01), Brendan Maher (0-04(0-04f)), Thomas Fahy
Dan McCormack, Tommy Ryan
Conor Kenny, Jerry Kelly (0-02), Shane Kenny (0-01)
Kevin Maher (0-09(0-07f)), Niall Kenny (1-01), JD Devaney (0-01)
Subs Used:
Jody Harkin (0-01) for Tommy Ryan (42 mins)
- Upperchurch Drombane
Ciaran Shortt
Ger Grant, Matt Ryan, Dean Carew
Keith Ryan, Gavin Ryan, John Ryan
Colm Ryan, Niall Grant
Paul Ryan, Diarmuid Grant (0-01), Paul Shanahan
Paudie Greene (0-07(0-06f)), Jack Butler (1-00), Michael Lee
Subs Used:
Pat Shortt (1-00(1-00f))
Loughlin Ryan
Conor Fahey
Colm Stapleton
