Cuddy and Hynes fire Camross to Laois Minor Hurling Championship glory

For the first time since 2021, Camross are Laois Minor Hurling champions after they defeated Barrow Gaels by 10 points in Sunday’s final.

Camross’ ability to convert their goal chances proved crucial, with them raising two green flags in either half. LJ Cuddy and Luke Hynes were immense for the victors, combining for 2-15 of Camross’ 4-20 tally.

Camross got off to a flying start and led by four points after as many minutes. Lukas Dowling opened the scoring, with Cian Fitzpatrick following suit shortly after. Camross’ third score came after Shay McEvoy made a great save to deny Ryan Guilfoyle before he gathered the rebound and put it between the posts. Darragh Mortimer became the fourth Camross player to raise a white flag before Barrow Gaels got off the mark through Tadgh Hughes.

LJ Cuddy opened his account from a free for the champions, with Senan O’Brien replying with two frees down the other end. Camross got the next three scores as Cuddy scored twice, with a Luke Hynes score sandwiched in between. Camross looked certain to get a goal when Hynes played in Guilfoyle, but full-back Aidan Byrne got back to deny him after he had rounded Barrow Gaels goalkeeper Shay McEvoy. O’Brien tapped over a free for Barrow Gaels to leave the game at double scores, 0-8 to 0-4, after 15 minutes.

Hynes scored his second point of the first half before Camross scored a fortuitous goal from the puck-out. Fitzpatrick’s shot dropped well short, but bounced right in front of McEvoy and ended up in the back of the net. LJ Cuddy should have scored a second goal for Camross, but missed the target when one-on-one with McEvoy. Hughes got his second score of the first half, but Camross still led by seven points with 10 minutes of the half to play.

That lead was pushed to 10 shortly after as LJ Cuddy played in Guilfoyle, who smashed the ball past McEvoy. Barrow Gaels got on top for the next few minutes and scored 1-2 without reply. Cillian Dunne and Hughes scored the points, while their goal came from the penalty spot after a foul on blood sub Kevin McCann. O’Brien mis-hit the penalty, but it bounced over the hurl of Daniel Sheeran and nestled in the net.

Cuddy scored the final point of the half as Camross led 2-10 to 1-7 at half-time.

The game was dead and buried within two minutes of the restart as Luke Hynes scored a goal straight from the throw-in before scoring a point from the resulting puck-out. Jack Delaney then set up Cuddy for a fourth Camross goal and it was a long way back for the Rosenallis/Clonaslee St Manman’s outfit from here.

Cuddy added three more points to his tally, all from play, with Camross leading 4-14 to 1-7 after 26 minutes. O’Brien and Cuddy traded frees before Brian Kelly got in for Barrow Gaels’ second goal. It all came after Cillian Dunne had kept the ball in on the end line and flicked it into the path of Kelly, who made no mistake from close range. Ciaran Palmer O’Keefe increased Camross’ lead with a score from the bench.

O’Brien, who finished with 2-9, scored four more points, with Cuddy pointing a 65 for Camross in between O’Brien’s second and third white flags. Hynes and Cuddy raised another white flag each as the game neared the end. O’Brien got his second goal of the contest with three minutes to go as he blasted a 21-yard free into the back of the net. Cuddy and O’Brien traded points late on; Cuddy’s came from a free and O’Brien’s came from a 65.

There was no denying who the worthy winners were as Camross won by 10 points in the end to get their hands on the silverware.

FINAL SCORE

CAMROSS 4-20

BARROW GAELS 3-13

SCORERS- Camross: LJ Cuddy 1-11 (0-4 frees, 0-1 65), Luke Hynes 1-4, Ryan Guilfoyle and Cian Fitzpatrick 1-1 each, Lukas Dowling, Darragh Mortimer and Ciaran Palmer O’Keefe 0-1 each. Barrow Gaels: Senan O’Brien 2-9 (1-0 pen, 1-5 frees, 0-3 65s), Brian Kelly 1-0, Tadgh Hughes 0-3, Cillian Dunne 0-1.

CAMROSS: Daniel Sheeran; Jacob Hilliard, Leo Guilfoyle, Darragh Cuddy; DJ Cuddy, Aaron Bredin, Charlie Peavoy; Darragh Mortimer, Luke Hynes; Tadhg Lowry, LJ Cuddy, Lukas Dowling; Jack Delaney, Ryan Guilfoyle, Cian Fitzpatrick. Subs: Ciaran Palmer O’Keefe for Delaney and Oisin Guilfoyle for DJ Cuddy (Both 34 mins), Tiernan Danne for Dowling (54 mins), Hugo O’Neill for Hilliard (57 mins), Jack Higgins for Fitzpatrick (58 mins)

BARROW GAELS: Shay McEvoy; Luke Kelly, Aidan Byrne, Conor O’Shea; Cullen Hyland, Oisin Dunne, Adam Somers; Oran McEvoy, Cillian Dunne; Oran Dunne, Senan O’Brien, Ronan Cuddy; Charlie Conroy, Brian Kelly, Tadgh Hughes. Subs: Ethan Flanagan for Hyland (23 mins), Kevin McCann for Oran Dunne (Blood 25-HT), Kevin McCann for O McEvoy (HT), Conor Flanagan for O’Shea (34 mins), Jack Culleton for Somers (42 mins)

Referee: Anthony Stapleton (Rathdowney-Errill)