Pearses 1-9; Four Roads 0-3: Pearses U14’s produced a stirring comeback this evening following their last meeting with Four Roads (Roscommon) who had inflicted a heavy defeat on them in the U14 Championship opener back in March. However, they got one back on them in this evenings semi-final to reach the final of the U14C Championship, to be played before the feast of Féile hurling.
Pearses held the edge for all of the game and were never behind. They started in the style of champions as Cillian Fahy had found his shooting range within a minute but was cancelled a minute later when Four Roads levelled matters through a free. Pearses then went on a mini scoring surge: Orin Burke made things look easy when he sweetly struck over the black spot while Cillian Fahy struck his 2nd point from play on 7mins when he gathered a pass from Darragh Roche as the ball just had the legs to carry over the crossbar.
Conor Kelly throttled through on goal and gently tapped over after he plucked a Niall McDonagh clearance from the sky. Four Roads started to apply some pressure mid-way through the half and one felt a revival was on the cards but Pearses defence had some great block-downs from Cormac Hillary, Ronan Hynes andamp;amp; Jack Reilly. Pearses almost found the net on 16 mins through Orin Burke but his effort was well saved while the clearance only fell to Burkie who tapped over his 2nd point of the evening.
As Four Roads were trying desperately to get back into the game, Pearses made a whopping double save at a crunch time just before half-time; the first from Paddy Kenny followed by Harry Mitchell in goals with the ball kicked away from danger by Mark Donnellan only to the waiting Four Roads forward who struck their 2nd score of the evening when a goal initially looked ominous. Half time score: Pearses 0-5; Four Roads 0-2.
The second half was only a minute old when Cillian Fahy put the black andamp;amp; whites into top gear with an unstoppable shot propelling Pearses into a 6 point lead. Conor Moran extended the lead with a pointed free and was uncharacteristically wide moments later after a foul on Ronan Hynes. Conor Kelly scored another point when he latched on to a long ball before driving an inspirational effort over the bar. Kelly brought his personal tally to 0-3 when he gathered a long range Cillian Fahy pass before tapping over.
Subsequently Conor Moran, Ronan Hynes andamp;amp; Orin Burke linked up well which culminated in Burke gathering his 3rd point of the evening. Four Roads scored a free after Peter O’Neill was deemed to have fouled his man as Pearses introduced fresh legs in the form of Oliver Laheen andamp;amp; Dara Scarry. In the closing stages Four Roads were desperately trying to find the net but fortunately for Pearses found the post instead and then another goal effort swept right across the face of goal.
It was an evening when Four Roads probably felt mortally wounded especially having beaten Pearses emphatically only a few weeks ago but there was no disputing the superiority of an impressive Pearses outfit who this time round set their stamp on the game from the word go. Final score: Pearses 1-9; Four Roads 0-3. Well done lads and mentors as we look forward to the winners of Skehana vs Abbeyknockmoy semi-final to be played on Monday evening.
Scorers: Cillian Fahy 1-2; Conor Kelly 0-3; Orin Burke 0-3; Conor Moran 0-1 (F).
Panel: Harry Mitchell, Paddy Kenny, Jack Reilly, Mark Donnellan, Oisin Donoghue, Cormac Hillary, Ronan Hynes, Niall McDonagh, Conor Moran, Orin Burke, Darragh Roche, Conor Kelly, Cillian Fahy, Anthony Feeney, Peter O’Neill, Dara Scarry, Oliver Laheen, Eanna Cunniffe, Jonah Donnellan, Dillon Roche, Conor Hillary, Diarmuid Ryan, Ross Lally, Cathal Hynes, Jason Rabbitte, Jamie Nutley, David Walsh, David Egan.
Report by Martina Donnellan.