The Harps power past Borris-Kilcotton to relegate them from the Senior grade

The Harps secured their place in the 2024 Senior Hurling Championship after an exhilarating victory over Borris-Kilcotton in their relegation play off on Wednesday evening. 

This is the third year in succession that The Harps were forced to save themselves at the final call, whereas it was uncharted territory for Borris-Kilcotton and the pressure no doubt weighed heavily. 

THE HARPS 0-28 

BORRIS-KILCOTTON 2-20 

The conditions were ideal for the game with a slight breeze blowing towards the town and the hurling lived up to the hopes of the bumper crowd in attendance with 36 of the 50 scores coming from play. 

The Harps came into this off the back of three successive losses in Group A, but for once in this year’s championship they had both Podge Delaney and Padraic Dunne at their disposal which proved huge as both put in excellent performances. 

Borris-Kilcotton finished the group stage with a win in a dead rubber against Camross but would have been hoping to bring that momentum through to this decider. 

The Harps were on top for the majority of the first half and 15 of their 17 points came from play with James Duggan looking particularly dangerous at full forward. 

An early goal for Borris-Kilcotton proved to be important as without that there would have been a danger of The Harps being out of sight by half time, but they kept in touch with a slurry of scores late in the half. 

Borris-Kilcotton took the initiative in the second half and outscored their opponents by 1-8 to 0-3 in the opening 15 minutes. The Harps dug deep after the goal and battled back to fire over six points in the final 10 minutes to clinch the win. 

James Duggan struck The Harps in front immediately from the throw in, but it was only moments later that they failed to clear their lines and Niall Coss was on hand to bury the ball into the net off the deck. 

The Harps rallied immediately and scored five of the next six thanks to two from Ciaran Comerford and John Brophy and one from Jim O’Connor in response to a top class sideline cut between the posts by PJ Scully. 

Matthew Whelan and Stephen Phelan both struck from well inside their own half for Borris-Kilcotton and Scully added a free from range as they started to heat up in front of the posts. 

They couldn’t stop electric attacks from The Harps as Cathal Murphy slotted a brilliant brace and Duggan popped over another. 

Scully landed a free from the 65 to reduce the gap to a point but Padraic Dunne hit one back and O’Connor saw an attempt at goal deflected over the bar. 

Neil Foyle and Cody Comerford traded scores as the exhibition of shooting continued at both ends and Scully and Jer Quinlan added further points for Borris-Kilcotton. 

The Harps gained momentum towards the end of the half and a brace for Ciaran Comerford was followed with scores from Ciaran Burke, Cody Comerford and Duggan in response so Coss and Scully to put The Harps into a 0-17 to 1-10 lead at the break. 

Duggan again opened the scoring in the second half but Borris-Kilcotton hit back with four in a row through Scully (2), Conor Kilbane and Aaron Dunphy and they looked a lot more potent than they did in the first. 

Duggan and Podge Delaney notched up another two scores for The Harps before Borris-Kilcotton went on a rampage. 

Stephen Dunphy and Noah Quinlan both scored brilliant points and Niall Coss followed with another before a Scully free. 

They drove their advantage home on 45 minutes when Dean Carey latched onto a loose ball on the 14 and batted it in for a goal to put them four points ahead. 

Ciaran Comerford and Noah Quinlan traded scores, and all of a sudden The Harps had to go chasing. 

Comerford split the posts with a brace of frees to bring it back to one but Scully kept them at bay with a free in response. Unfortunately for Borris-Kilcotton that would be their final score and they’d be left to rue a couple of wides. 

Duggan started the late fight back with a great score for The Harps and Comerford levelled things up with two high pressure frees in the 55th minutes. 

Mick Lanigan was introduced late in the game and he slotted over the bar to put The Harps ahead with one of his first possessions. 

Borris-Kilcotton threw everything they had at getting an equalising point, but they left themselves exposed at the back and Duggan took full advantage to score his seventh point and seal a massive win for his team.