Killimordaly 1-15 Pearses 2-7: A mostly very young Pearses Minor panel exited the Championship at the Quarter-Final stage when they went down by five points to Killimordaly yesterday in Kenny Park, Athenry yesterday. Pearses had a flying start with an Oisin Flannery goal in the first minute. Killimordaly made better use of their scoring chances in the first-half to lead 0-9 to 1-5 at the break. Killimordaly hit 1-2 early in the second half to open a six point lead and Pearses had to chase the game from there until the finish.
Killimordaly had edged ahead 0-6 to 1-2 after 15 minutes, Dean Reilly with the Pearses points. Pearses had some wides which could’ve seen them ahead at this point. The second quarter was even with the teams sharing 0-6 evenly. Reilly took his total to 0-3, while All-Ireland Minor winner with Galway Conor Fahey, landed two frees.
The decisive spell of the game was the ten minutes after half-time, as Killimordaly hit 1-4 to Pearses’ 0-1, to lead 1-13 to 1-6. The remaining 20 minutes were more even and a long range Ronan Flannery free ended up in the Killimordaly net on 52 minutes to give Pearses some hope, but Killimordaly closed out the game to advance.
Pearses: J Barrett; S Doran, E McCabe, N Moran; S Hynes, R Flannery (1-0), C Kitt; D Grady, C Fahy (0-4); M Hennelly, C O’Neill, D Reilly (0-3); G Kenny, O Flannery (1-0), J Mitchell.