Abbeyleix St Lazarian's power past Rosenallis to secure semi-final spot

Abbeyleix are through to the semi-finals of the Senior Hurling Championship, after a mightily impressive win in O'Moore Park on Sunday afternoon. Rosenallis had made a fantastic game of it, but Abbeyleix totally pulled away in the final 20 minutes.

Eoghan Fennelly was on fire from placed balls and pushed Abbeyleix further and further out of sight. He scored a remarkable 1-10, with all ten points coming from placed balls. His shooting helped Abbeyleix put scores on the board to reward the tremendous hard work of the other forwards. 

Abbeyleix 3-26

Rosenallis 0-16

Only promoted from Premier Intermediate last year, Abbeyleix have been impressive in this campaign so far and fully deserve to book their first semi-final since 2017. Rosenallis came into the game as 13/8 underdogs and more than held their own for the first three quarters of the tie, but simply ran out of answers towards the end.

Abbeyleix got out in front early and led by four after just five minutes. As soon as Rosenallis got their first score, however, the game exploded into life.

The sides traded scores back and forth for the rest of the half and were level with 30 minutes played. But Eoghan Fennelly gathered a long free in from Enda Rowland and drove the ball into the back of the net for the game's first goal.

He added a free just before the whistle to leave Abbeyleix up by 1-12 to 0-11 at half time. 

David Dooley hit three frees on the bounce after the break as Rosenallis got themselves back to within a point. But when Colin Byrne produced a second goal for Abbeyleix, the game took a seismic momentum shift.

They scored 1-5 without reply before John Lennon got the final score of the day for Rosenallis. Abbeyleix remarkably finished with an unanswered 1-8 in the final ten minutes, including a penalty from Enda Rowland.

They will play Rathdowney-Errill in the final four.