St. Colmcille’s could not have had a worse start to this minor hurling league in Whitechurch on Wednesday 2nd of April. Within one minute, they had conceded two goals from two Whitechurch attacks. It is extremely rare that a ‘turning-point’ in a game will occur just as the game is starting but, as the scoreline shows, Colmcille’s lost by a single point so when there must be some regret that they, effectively, gave their opponent a six-point head-start and then decided to play catchup.
But, catch-up they did. Points from Charle Horgan (two), Cian Dunne (two), Tom O’Sullivan Daire MacGuire and Alex Flynn met with only a solitary reply from the home side. After 16 minutes, the sides were level 0-07 to 2-01. Bizarrely then, given the bad start, the away side took the lead in the 17th minute when Alex Flynn effort at a point dropped to the net to put his team three points to the good.
Much as Whitechurch had not pushed on after their early goals, Colmcille’s could not push on either. Though Colmcille’s were three points up, it was the home side that dominated the scoring from there to the end of the half with a crucial third goal coming in the 21st minute. The home side lead, after a half where both sides had periods of dominance, on a scoreline of 3-05 to 1-09.
The second half was a tightly fought affair. Half-time substitutes Fachtna Kelleher and Billy Ryan made an immediate impact to level things up. Whitechurch then responded with two points of their own to extend the lead again. This set the tempo for the half. Anytime that Colmcille’s scored , their rivals were able to extend the lead that little bit more. Though another sub Alex Sheehan and Ciarán Ryan added points, the visitors were guilty of a string of misses that, along with the bad start, they will most certainly rue. Whitechurch in the end hung on for a victory and credit to them for that. Colmcille’s played well but will certainly have some frustrations about how this game unfolded.
TEAM
1 – Darragh O’Driscoll
2 – Ciarán Tattan
3 – Evan Quain
4 – Jamie Murphy
5 – Darragh Cashman
6 – Jack Harte (0-01, 65)
7 – Joe Arrigan
8 – Alex Flynn (1-02, 1 free)
9 – Darragh Glavey
10 – Cian Dunne (0-02)
11 – Ciarán Ryan (0-02)
12 – Daire MacGuire (0-02)
13 – Micheál Leahy
14 – Charlie Horgan (0-02)
15 – David O’Donovan
SUBS:: Tom O’Sullivan (0-01), Fachtna Kelleher (0-01), Billy Ryan (0-01), Alex Sheehan (0-01)