White’s Cross lost out by the narrowest of margins in this Junior 4 Football league tie in Sallybrook on Wednesday 7th of May. Things did not look good when in the first minute, with their first attack, Glanmire had the ball in the back of the net. However, Glanmire did not really push on. White’s Cross defended very well and were not under real pressure. Ethan Ryan and Evan Quain were outstanding as they restricted Glanmire to only three points in the first half. At the other end, White’s Cross did have plenty of possession but were struggling to turn this into scores. James McCarthy and Fergal Reid had two goal-bound efforts cleared off the line. Had even one of these gone in, then it would have changed the course of the game. However, our luck was not in on this occasion. Barry Prendergast got White’s Cross only point in the first half in the 29th minute.
Brendan Quain added a point in the first minute of the second half. Brendan would give a scoring exhibition in the second thirty minutes. He kicked five points in the opening quarter and Barry Prendergast added one more as the visitors went one-point ahead at the end of the third quarter; 0-07 to 1-03. To their credit, the home side put some very nice movements together and they scored 1-03 without reply in the next five minutes to go five points clear. White’s Cross were not done, however. Minor player Oscar O’Connell was very prominent in his side’s play as thanks to the aforementioned Brendan Quain and Barry Prendergast, they rattled off the next three points. Glanmire added one more before again Quain and this time Daniel Kelleher scored two more points to leave only one point between the sides. Again Glanmire kicked another point as White’s Cross pushed for an equalizer. Barry Prendergast once again reduced the lead to a point and there was still time for an equalizer. This did not materialize this time. This is disappointing but this was a mighty performance from all of the lads. To score 12 points in a half of football at this level is very impressive.
TEAM
1 – Murt Kelleher
2 – Evan Quain
3 – Derek O’Connor
4 – Ethan Ryan
5 – Luke Murphy
6 – Dan O’Sullivan
7 – Tom Casey
8 – Barry Prendergast (0-05)
9 – Daniel Kelleher (0-01)
10 – Patrick Harrington
11 – Brendan Quain (0-07, 3 frees)
12 – James Buckley
13 – Fionnan Quinlan
14 – James Mccarthy
15 – Fergal Reid
SUBS USED: Oscar O’Connell & Cian O’Brien