Pádraig Pearses 6-19 Salthill-Knocknacarra 1-9
Report by Martina Donnellan.
Pearses returned to winning ways with a dominant 6-19 to 1-9 home win over Salthill/Knocknacarra in the U20B1 Hurling Championship on Wednesday last.
The Pearses mentors were looking for a good response from their side after their drawn match in the opening group game in Tonabrocky 2 weeks ago, and they delivered it emphatically as they hammered the visitors in Ballymacward.
Both teams played 13-aside given the visitors lack of numbers keeping the game man-to-man. Pearses had 2-6 on the board before Salthill/Knocknacarra picked off their first free; the Pearses goals coming from the stick of Cian Murphy & Luke Mitchell. Paddy Kenny added to the goal tally while further Luke Mitchell & Cian Murphy goals helped an already emphatic score line.
Murphy added points from play and placed balls as things were really unraveling for the visitors. Diarmuid Fahey and Luke Mitchell added to their points tally in the 2nd quarter to Salthill/Knocknacarra ‘s response of a further 0-4 by the half way mark as Salthill’s challenge had somewhat waned as early as the first 10mins. Half time score: Pearses 5-12; Salthill/Knocknacarra 0-5.
Pearses restarted the 2nd half brightly as the black and white wave kept coming. Cian Murphy led the way for the 2nd half task with further well-taken scores, and he was reliable as ever too with placed balls. The visitors lacked a goal threat compared to Pearses as our backs dealt admirably with everything that came their way led at the back by the powerful Mark Hennelly who was like a horse riding in the Guinness Galway Hurdle.
Pearses outscored their opponents a further 1-7 to 1-4 in the 2nd half; the goal coming from Ethan Lally with Oisin Donohue, Orin Burke & Paddy Kenny all chipping in with points as Orin took over the free taking duties. Pearses finished out the contest with a canter on a final score: Pearses 6-19: Salthill/Knocknacarra 1-9.
Panel: Conor Moran, Eoin Lally, Brian Kelly, Niall Moran, Mark Hennelly, Conor Kelly, Jack Reilly, Luke Mitchell, Ronan Hynes, Niall McDonagh, Diarmuid Fahey, Cian Murphy, Paddy Kenny, Mark Donnellan, Cormac Hillary, Darragh McCabe, Oisin Donohue, Orin Burke, Ethan Lally.