Late goals help Shinrone overturn Belmont once again

SHINRONE 3-16

BELMONT 0-20

SHINRONE showed the mettle of champions when they fought back late in the game to snatch victory from Belmont in a very entertaining Offaly Senior Hurling Championship encounter at Grant Heating St Brendan's Park, Birr on Saturday.

For most of the game Belmont looked the better team but missed a string of chances that could have put the game out of reach. They were still in front with three minutes to go but two goals and two points with just a point in reply swung the game in favour of Shinrone and they now sit on top of their group with three wins from three.

It was a case of deja vu for Belmont. When these sides last met in the county semi-final last year, Belmont led for almost the entire game before an injury time goal saw Shinrone snatch a dramatic victory by a single point to break Belmont hearts, while in last year's group game Shinrone scored the last 1-6 without reply to win.

Belmont didn't dominate to the same extent on this occasion but over the hour probably played the better hurling but couldn't shake off their opponents. There was never much between the sides either way and the five point victory margin is certainly flattering to Shinrone.

The champions did get off to a blistering start when they raced into a 1-2 to 0-1 lead after just three minutes but Belmont settled in the game more after that and were three points up on two occasions in the second quarter before Shirnone put in a good finish to the half to lead by a single point at half time, 1-9 to 0-11.

Belmont made the better start to the second half as well and were three points up again after nine minutes. They pushed the lead to three twice more and were ahead by that margin with nine minutes left. But Shinrone hung in there and a brilliantly taken Killian Sampson goal with three minutes left put Shinrone back in front and although Belmont levelled again, Shinrone had their tails up and added a further 1-2 to seal the win.

Belmont will be asking themselves questions again about how they can dominate for such long periods and still not put sides away. One thing they will certainly look at on this occasion is their shooting as they hit 15 wides, almost double their opponents tally of eight. David Nally did hit eight points from frees but crucially either side of half time he also missed three very scoreable frees and he also saw an effort at goal hit a post and go wide.

Shinrone may not have been at their best but once again showed great resilience to stick in the game and the confidence they got from winning last year's title is obviously helping them as well. They went a couple of spells of over 10 minutes without scoring but just kept at it and got their reward in the end. Eamonn Cleary, Darragh Landy, Killian Sampson, Conor Doughan, Luke Watkins, Paul Cleary and Sean Cleary were best for them.

Belmont have one win from two now and are still in a good position to qualify for the knock out stages. Losing a game from a winning position won't please them but they are playing some good hurling. Conor Kenny, Jack Clancy, Mark Egan, Leon Fox, Patrick Taaffe, David Nally, Paddy Clancy and Cathal Flynn all played well for them.

Belmont were quick out of the blocks and straight from the throw in Damien Egan won the ball and pointed after just 11 seconds. The Shinrone response was sharp as Donal Morkan and Eamonn Cleary both pointed frees before a long crossfield ball from Killian Sampson bounced and Paul Cleary pulled first time to send it flashing to the net to make it 1-2 to 0-1 with just three minutes on the clock.

Belmont hit back and David Nally pointed a brace of frees before Damien Egan scored after seven minutes and the sides were level when Paddy Clancy found the range after 10 minutes. Luke Watkins and Sean Cleary quickly restored a two point lead for Shinrone but Paddy Clancy and David Nally (free) levelled it up again just entering the second quarter.

Jack Clancy then put Belmont in front again and Cathal Flynn and Shane Nally (with an effort that bounced in the square and over the bar) added further points to push them out to a three point lead. Conor Doughan hit Shinrone's first point in 11 minutes but David Nally replied from a free but Shinrone put in a strong finish to the half. Luke Watkins, D.J. McLoughlin and Donal Morkan (free) brought them level before Belmont went close to a goal when David Nally cut in from the left but his shot hit the post and wet wide. He then missed two chances from frees before Donal Morkan landed a point for Shinrone to give them a one point half time lead, 1-9 to 0-11.

Cathal Flynn levelled matters again a minute after the restart but from the puck out Adrian Cleary restored Shinron's lead. Ronan McEvoy caught the subsequent puck out and brought the sides level once more. After missing a '65', David Nally then found his range again with four points from frees with Donal Morkan replying with a Shinrone free, leaving Belmont 0-17 to 1-11 in front midway through the half.

Paul Cleary pulled one back for Shinrone and from a dropping ball he flashed another effort across the goal and wide. Paddy Clancy restored Belmont's three point lead but Eamonn Cleary with a huge free from just outside his own 45m line and Dan Doughan reduced the lead to the minimum again.

Paddy Clancy made a great catch and finished with a point to put Belmont two up again but the game changed with three minutes left. Killian Sampson took a quick sideline cut and got the return pass, he moved inside and offloaded the ball again but once more took the return pass before crashing a great shot to the net to put Shinrone back in front.

A minute into injury time Belmont looked to have snatched a draw when Patrick Taaffe played the ball into the right corner and Paddy Clancy won it and shot over to level the game for the seventh time. However Shinrone weren't done and Belmont lost a ball on their own goal line, the ball almost ending up in their own net, but it went out for a '65' which Donal Morkan pointed. Conor Doughan got the puckout and landed another huge point and then still had time to create another chance and James Liffey came out of a group of players and sent a shot low to the net to give Shinrone a five point victory margin.

MATCH ANALYSIS

THE TEAMS

SHINRONE: Eamonn Cleary; Darren Crean, Darren O'Meara, Darragh Landy; Killian Sampson, Conor Doughan, Dara Maher; D.J. McLoughlin, Luke Watkins; Declan Cleary, Donal Morkan, Adrian Cleary; Paul Cleary, Sean Cleary, Jason Sampson. Subs. Dan Doughan (for Declan Cleary, 38 mins), James Liffey (for D.J. McLoughlin, 38 mins), Michael Cleary (for Adrian Cleary, 55 mins).

BELMONT: Barry Egan; Conor Kenny, Liam Browne, Darragh Flynn; Jack Clancy, Mark Egan, Leon Fox; Patrick Taaffe, David Nally; Damien Egan, Paddy Clancy, James Nally; Conor Dunican, Ronan McEvoy, Cathal Flynn. Subs. Shane Nally (for James Nally, 19 mins), Alan Egan (for Damien Egan, 46 mins), Damien Egan (for Ronan McEvoy, 49 mins).

REFEREE: Kieran Dooley

MAN OF THE MATCH

Although he ended up on the losing side Paddy Clancy had an excellent game for Belmont. He scored five points from play and was a hugely effective target man, winning a lot of high ball, but unfortunately for his side they weren't able to turn any of those chances into goals.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Killian Sampson's 57th minute goal was the moment that finally turned the game in Shinrone's favour. It was the result of great work by the wing back, who took a quick sideline cut and was then involved twice more in the move before he drilled a great shot to the far corner of the net.

REFEREE WATCH

Kieran Dooley handled the game very well. Unobtrusive for the most part, he set out his stall early with a yellow card after just two minutes. He let the game flow as much as possible and there were very few quibbles with his officiating.

TALKING POINT

Belmont will now be getting a bit of a complex about facing Shinrone. For the third game in a row they have seen Shinrone hit them late to snatch victory. In last year's group game Shinrone scored the last 1-6 to win, in last year's semi-final they led by eight points but two injury time goals saw Shinrone win by a point, and now they led this game and dominated for long periods but again conceded 2-2 late on to see victory snatched from them. They will be hoping they don't have to face Shinrone again too soon.

WHAT’S NEXT

Belmont meet Ballinamere in O'Connor Park on Sunday August 20th while Shinrone have a bye in the next round before they then meet Ballinamere in their final group game.

VENUE WATCH

St Brendan's Park looked very well on a sunny and blustery evening. There was a good sized crowd in for this repeat of last year's county semi-final and as usual there were plenty of stewards on duty to look after the crowd. After all the rain the pitch was a little soft in places but held up well.

STATISTICS

Wides; Shinrone 8 (5 in first half) Belmont 15 (7 in first half)

Yellow Cards: Shinrone 2 (Conor Doughan, Michael Cleary) Belmont 3 (Ronan McEvoy, Cathal Flynn, David Nally).

Black Cards: None

Red Cards: None

THE SCORERS

Shinrone; Donal Morkan (0-5, 0-3 frees, 0-1 '65'), Paul Cleary (1-1), Killian Sampson, James Liffey (1-0 each), Eamon Cleary (frees), Luke Watkins, Conor Doughan (0-2 each), Sean Cleary, D.J. McLoughlin, Adrian Cleary, Dan Doughan (0-1 each).

Belmont; David Nally (0-8, all frees), Paddy Clancy (0-5), Damien Egan, Cathal Flynn (0-2 each), Jack Clancy, Shane Nally, Ronan McEvoy (0-1 each).