Pearses 0-22 Beagh 3-13: These two teams will have to do it all over again after this Junior ‘B’ Hurling Quarter-final finished in a draw earlier today in Loughrea. Pearses seemed to have the upper hand at various stages of the game, but Beagh’s goals brought them back into it each time. With 15 minutes left Pearses led by six points, but Beagh had to draw level twice in injury time before the game finished all square.
Pearses led 0-3 to 0-0 after three minutes, Aidan Kilkenny and Niall Skehill (2). Then 1-1 from Beagh seen them get their nose in front after 6 minutes. Pearses hit four of the next seven points, Conor O’Neill from wing-forward, Kilkenny and Skehill again picking off the chances, with a few also going astray in a dominant spell. The teams were level 1-4 to 0-7 after seventeen minutes. A long range point from Kealan Beckett, after good work by Leo Morrissey put Pearses in the lead again, Beagh levelled from a placed ball immediately.
Niall Skehill was in fine scoring form all day and hit the next three points of the game to open a three point lead for Pearses after 25 minutes. Skehill would add two more points before the break, but Beagh had the game’s second goal at the other end, when a mishit free was batted out to the left side before being returned to the net. The teams went in level at half-time, 0-13 to 2-7.
Pearses had a great start to the second half and hit the first six points to take a commanding lead. Tommy McDonagh and Pádraic Raftery anchored the defence well, while Paul Lally was moving well in midfield. However the final quarter belonged to Beagh, as they outscored Pearses by 1-6 to 0-3 in this spell. All but two of those scores from placed balls.
Pearses still lead by five in the 57th minute, but a 21 yard free was blasted to the net to make it a two point game as the clock ticked into injury time. Two Beagh points again drew the game level, before outstanding Skehill for the fourteenth time had the umpire reaching for the white flag. The final score of the game went to Beagh before the final whistle.
Pearses: P O’Brien; P Raftery, J Jenkins, T Broderick; L Morrissey, T McDonagh, R Carr; P Lally, E Lawless; D Wynne, K Beckett (0-2), C O’Neill (0-2); N Skehill (0-14, 8f), A Kilkenny (0-2), K Connell. Subs used: R Skehill, D Skehill (0-1), C O’Grady (0-1).