Historic win for U21 Hurlers
St Sylvesters 2-12 Faughs 1-13 Syls U21 hurlers won the C Championship in a hard fought game in O'Toole Park on Saturday Nov 25th. Conditions were good, dry, with a breeze blowing down the field. Faughs won the toss and played against the wind in the first half. Faughs started well and scored a point almost immediately. Sylvesters got off the mark with a Russie Cleere point and a David Keogh free. Faughs then rocked Sylvesters when a free landed in the square and was finished to the net. Brian Mc Carthy then scored two lovely points from play. Twenty minutes in and Cian Cleere finished a ground ball to the net. Faughs replied with two well taken frees. David Keogh then landed three more frees and the curtain came down on the first half with another goal by Cian Cleere. This left the half time score as Sylvesters 2-7 to Faughs 1-4.
We were wondering at half time
would 6 points be enough of a lead considering the stiffish wind. Our
worst fears were confirmed when Faughs scored 6 points on the trot in
the first ten minutes of the second half to draw level. A David Keogh
free steadied the ship and the introduction of Pauric Kennedy and Barry
Kiely introduced fresh legs. John Coughlan moved to midfield, his
brother Niall to centre back and Colm Mc Intyre to full back. With Peter
O Byrne a rock in defense and the full forward line of Cleere, Mc
Carthy and Relihan creating panic with every attack Sylvesters fought
hard to regain control. David Keogh landed 4 more frees in the
remaining minutes taking his total to 9 points. Faughs responded with 3
points of their own to stay in touch. With the referee playing 6
minutes of injury time the tension grew. Relief flooded in when the
final whistle blew and put to an end a great game of hurling by two fine
teams. The final score read Sylvesters 2-12 Faughs 1-13.Bottle was
athe term that best described this Syls performance - even ythe county
board rep felt that the standard and committment of both sides was on a
par with much senior hurling in the county.
Sylvester's panel were:
Brian O Neill, Paul Christie, Niall Coughlan, Peter O Byrne, John
Coughlan, Patrick O Leary, Conor Keating, David Keogh, Darragh Flaherty.
Colm Mc Intyre, Russell Cleere, Killian O Riordan, Cian Cleere, Brian
Mc Carthy, Aidan Relihan, Kieran Falvey, Barry Kiely, Pauric Kennedy,
Alan Morris Andy Grey, Anthony Dunne, Paul Curran and Michael Mc Carthy.
Congratulations to Noel Falvey, Ciaran McAuliffe and Pat Keogh, and indeed, to all the hurling supporters at Sylvesters.
Thanks to Noel Falvey for the report and Noel, Philip Cleere and the Herald guy for the pictures.
Championes, Championes, Ole Ole Ole!,
