Pearses 2-11 Killimordaly 0-9: Pearses had a good win over neighbours Killimordaly in Round 2 of the Senior Hurling League yesterday in Ballymacward. Pearses took full advantage of the strong wind into the road end of the recently realigned pitch to lead 1-9 to 0-4 at the break. Killimordaly didn’t make the same use of it in the second half and a second Pearses goal on 40 minutes gave the home side the breathing space to see out the game.
Tomás Flannery opened the scoring with a point from play in the first minute. Pearses dominated the first quarter and led 0-6 to 0-0 after 17 minutes, Flannery and Ronan Bellew (4) the scorers. Darragh Cooney got Killimordaly off the mark from a free on 18 minutes. Two minutes later a good Pearses move seen Emmet Ward centre to Flannery and he buried it low to the net, for the first goal into the new goalposts, 1-6 to 0-1.
Pearses’ dominance continued and Seán Hardiman and Bellew (free) points extended the lead to 10 points. Cooney hit back for Killimordaly, before Hardiman broke through at the other end and his low shot was just over. Tommy Madden and Cooney landed the final two points of the half for Killimordaly to leave it 1-9 to 0-4 at half-time.
Ronan Bellew and Darragh Cooney (2) shared the first three points of the second half from frees. Then half-time sub, Colm Raftery, found the net to make it 2-10 to 0-6. Sean Hardiman was forced to retire injured on 45 minutes following a late challenge and we wish him a speedy recovery. Ronan Bellew pointed the resulting free. Cyril Donnellan and Tomás Kenny were introduced to the action at this point and both looked sharp following injuries. Killimordaly had the final three points of the game, all from frees as the game came to a conclusion.
Pearses: P O’Brien; R Lally, T McDonagh, A Bellew; R O’Neill, D Wynne, K Hardiman; E Cunniffe, J Gelston; R Bellew (0-7), S Hardiman (0-2), T Flannery (1-2); G Lally, E Ward, L Murphy. Subs used: C Raftery, C Donnellan, T Kenny, K Beckett, K Donnellan. Ref: S Moran.