Upperchurch/Drombane hurlers march on after inflicting a heavy defeat on Moyle Rovers

Upperchurch/Drombane —---------------4-19

Moyle Rovers                 —--------------- 2-12

The junior hurlers of Upperchurch/Drombane managed to further enhance a great year for their club as they comfortably saw off a spirited challenge on Saturday afternoon from Moyle Rovers to secure their passage to a county final.

A Moyle Rovers bid  to secure a county hurling title was blown apart by a powerful Upperchurch/Drombane in Boherlahan  as the South Junior A champions fell at the penultimate hurdle with their victors, Upperchurch/Drombane now looking forward to a County Junior A hurling final with Grangemockler/Ballyneale.

As the scoreline suggests Upperchurch/Drombane fully deserved their victory. Upperchurch/Drombane were dominant throughout with James Barry imperious at centre back, the influential Pat Ryan on top in midfield and they had a number of players in attack that were capable of inflicting real damage to the aspirations of Moyle Rovers.

Among them were Loughlin Ryan and  Conor Fahey who scored a goal apiece inside the opening sixteen minutes, two superbly taken goals, which set the tone for the game as Upperchurch held a nine point lead midway through the first half.

Moyle Rovers responded. Kevin Grace, who had an excellent game in the middle of the field, scored his third point of the half from play and Dara Ryan and Rory Collins chipped in with a point apiece before substitute Dean English, who was lively throughout and got on a lot of ball, hit the net with a neat finish, to bring Rovers back into the contest, just three points adrift.

Within a few minutes Upperchurch had extended that lead back out to six points but Moyle Rovers finished the half well taking two scores, a free from Dara Ryan and Kevin Grace popped over his fourth of the half,  while Eoin Short kept the scoreboard ticking over for Upperchurch who held a five point lead at the break.

Rovers will look back on two big chances spurned, which if they had been converted , would have made the game far more competitive.

Upperchurch were grateful to their goalie James Griffin for top quality saves at the end  of the first half and at the start of the second half. He pulled off fine stops from goalbound efforts from Daire Luttrell  in the closing seconds of the first half and from Luke Boland two minutes into the second half to deny the south side a way back into the game.

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As dominant as Upperchurch were in that first half they still only held a five point lead at the break. 

While Rian Quigley reduced the margin to four points for Moyle Rovers early in the second half that was as close as the south side managed to get to their opponents.

Upperchurch popped over the next four points, with Rovers scoring just a free from another Dara Ryan effort, to stretch the lead further before Tom Purcell finally killed off any hope Moyle Rovers had with an opportunistic goal reacting quicker than anybody else to a breaking ball in front of the goal.

That goal sixteen minutes into the second half gave Upperchurch a ten point lead and from that point on they cruised to victory.Pakie Burke scored another goal with five minutes left after he gathered a Pat Ryan sideline delivery and finished to the net.

There were fifteen  points between the teams well into injury time when Moyle Rovers centre back Morgan Irwin doubled on ball  off the  ground to hit the net for a consolation score for Moyle Rovers.

Upperchurch’s James Green scored the last point of the game to give his team a winning margin of thirteen points.

Upperchurch/Drombane

James Griffin, AJ Shanahan, Matthew Greene, Padraig Stapleton, Oisin Treacy, James Green, John Ryan, Tom Purcell,Pat Ryan, Loughlin Ryan, James Barry, Conor Fahey, Pakie Bourke, Pat Shortt, Eoin Shortt.

Subs- Michael Griffin for Eoin Short, TJ Butler for Pat Shortt, Eanna Ryan for Conor Fahey, Robert Murphy for Loughlin Ryan.

Scorers - Pat Short 0-8,(1f), Loughlin Ryan 1-2, Conor Fahey 1-2,Pat Ryan 0-3,Tom Purcell 1-0,Pakie Burke 1.0,Eoin Shortt 0-1,James Barry 0-1,(65),Oisin Treacy 0-1,James Greene 0-1

Moyle Rovers

Luke Delahunty, Shane Luttrell, Paddy Morrissey, Luke Fogarty, Nathan Croke, Morgan Irwin, Cillian Crowe,Kevin Grace, Brian McKeown,Luke Boland, Anthony Phelan, Rian Quigley,Rory Collins, Dara Ryan, Craig Condon.

Subs

Dean English for anthony Phelan, David Luttrell for Brian McKeown,Shane Ryan for Craig Condon,Sean Keating for Luke Fogarty, Jack Holohan for Shane Ryan

Scorers

Kevin Grace0-5,Dara Ryan 0-4f’s,Dean English 1-0, Morgan Irwin 1-0,Rian Quigley 0-1,Rory Collins 0-1,Craig Condon 0-1