Thursday, May 2nd
North Tipperary Junior A Hurling League
Knockshegowna 3-15 Nenagh Éire Óg 0-19
Éire Óg suffered a five-point defeat to Knockshegowna at Ballingarry on Thursday evening in the North Tipperary Junior A Hurling League.
Knockshegowna took an early lead, but points from Davy Hackett (’65, free), Brian Quinn (two) and James Mackey helped Éire Óg into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead.
In the 13th minute goalkeeper Kevin Flynn saved a Knockshegowna penalty, but Knockshegowna converted the rebound before scoring a second goal two minutes later to take a 2-1 to 0-5 lead.
The sides then traded points before the Knockshe ‘keeper made a great save to deny Darragh Walsh a goal.
Knockshegowna enjoyed a 2-5 to 0-9 lead late in the opening half before a Davy Hackett free and a cracker of a point from James Mackey tied it up.
Half-time: Éire Óg 0-11 Knockshegowna 2-5.
Éire Óg started the second half in enterprising fashion with a Donnacha Quinn point, but conceded a third goal in the 32nd minute – 0-12 to 3-5.
With Knockshegowna now playing with a strong breeze at their backs Éire Óg had it all to do to rescue the situation.
Following a Donnacha Quinn point with twenty minutes to play Éire Óg had closed the gap to a single point (0-14 to 3-6), but Knockshegowna responded well to the challenge and out-scored the Blues 0-9 to 0-5 during their remainder of this encounter.
Late in the game Éire Óg enjoyed a great opportunity to stage a late fight back, but the Knockshegowna ‘keeper made a great double save to deny Donnacha Quinn and Brian Maxwell a goal.
Nenagh Éire Óg: Kevin Flynn, Donnacha Heffernan, John O’Donoghue, Michael Collins, Eoin Fitzgibbon, Niall Cahill, Niall Madden, Alan Kelly (0-1), Brian Maxwell (0-1), Adam Grattan, David Hackett (0-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 ’65), James Mackey (0-2), Darragh Walsh, Brian Quinn (0-2), Donnacha Quinn (0-5). Subs: (42nd) Andrew Coffey for Darragh Walsh, (52nd) Philip Hickey for Brian Quinn, (61st) Conor Ryan for Niall Madden.
Referee: Ger Fitzpatrick (Roscrea).
