North Tipperary Junior A Hurling League
Nenagh Éire Óg 2-25 Roscrea 0-16
Following a disappointing defeat suffered at the hands of Knockshegowna in the last round Éire Óg returned to winning ways on Saturday evening in Roscrea when the Blues enjoyed a fifteen-point win over the home side.
Éire Óg played with the wind in the opening half and led 0-4 to 0-2 thanks to four Davy Hackett efforts before Bob O’Brien won a Pearse Morris delivery in the 19th minute and beat the Roscrea ‘keeper with a classy finish.
The Blues added points thanks to the efforts of Gary Howard and Darragh Walsh before Bob O’Brien hit the post with a rasping effort.
Roscrea fought back and trailed 0-8 to 1-7, but Éire Óg closed out the half impressively with points from Brian Maxwell, Bob O’Brien and Brian Quinn to lead 1-10 to 0-8 at the interval.
Éire Óg had registered ten first half wides, but the lads’ performance improved significantly in the second half with efforts from David Hackett, Brian Maxwell, Donnacha Quinn (two) and Brian Quinn firing the Blues into a 1-15 to 0-8 lead.
Roscrea responded with two points of their own, but Éire Óg were moving well with David Hackett (two frees), Darragh Walsh and Bob O’Brien (two) adding to the Blues’ tally – 1-20 to 0-10.
Roscrea rallied with five late points to cut the deficit significantly, but Éire Óg proved too strong for their hosts on this occasion with efforts from James Mackey (two), Brian Maxwell, Alan Kelly, Bob O’Brien and a Philip Hickey goal in the 58th minute propelling the Blues into the knock-out stages of this year’s junior A hurling league.
Nenagh Éire Óg: Darragh Gleeson, Michael Collins, John O’Donoghue, Donnacha Heffernan, Niall Madden, Niall Cahill, Eoin Fitzgibbon, Alan Kelly (0-1), Brian Maxwell (0-3), Bob O’Brien (1-5), Pearse Morris, Davy Hackett (0-7, 0-4 frees, 0-1 ’65), Gary Howard (0-1), Brian Quinn (0-2), Darragh Walsh (0-2). Subs: (HT) Donnacha Quinn (0-2) for Gary Howard, (HT) Andrew Coffey for John O’Donoghue, (42nd) James Mackey (0-2) for Brian Quinn, (46th) Conor Ryan for Donnacha Heffernan, (50th) Philip Hickey (1-0) for David Hackett.
Referee: Martin O’Shea (Borrisokane).
