Pearses 1-17 Carnmore 0-11: Pearses recorded a second League win in-a-row yesterday against Carnmore, on their home patch. Pearses made better use of a strong wind blowing into the road end and had a wider spread of scorers than Carnmore, who relied heavily on the Hanley brothers, Barry and George for leadership.
Pearses lined up without Tomandamp;aacute;s Flannery and Enda Cunniffe, who picked up injuries in last week’s Mellows game. Ronan Bellew was also unavailable on the day. Cyril Donnellan, Cormac Ward and Darragh Skehill are of course out with long term injuries. However Keith Donnellan made a return to the black and white after his spell in Australia. Kerrill Hardiman resumed at wing-back after missing last week’s game.
Carnmore started well with the wind at their backs and Barry Hanley had a two points on the board (one from play) in the first two minutes. Pearses’ first score arrived on the seventh minute, from a Jimmy Gelston free. Hanley and Gelston shared the next three scores, all from placed balls, before Gary Lally and Emmett Ward pointed from play for Pearses, 0-4 each after twenty minutes.
Pearses were playing a smarter game against the wind, keeping the puckouts short when possible and Carnmore could not make their advantage count. Hanley tacked on three more frees and Gary Lally added his second score from play. Carnmore’s hit back, but Pearses finished the half well, when an on form Emmett Ward hit two points from play. Half-time: Carnmore 0-8 Pearses 0-7.
Pearses had wind advantage in the second half and Jimmy Gelston levelled the game from a placed ball after a minute of play. Then possibly the turning point of the game came when good work from Gary Lally drew a foul and a 21-yard-free. Keeper Fearghal Flannery came forward and despatched it to the Carnmore net. Pearses now lead for the first time, 1-8 to 0-8.
Pearses made the wind advantage count and outscored Carnmore 0-9 to 0-3 in the remaining 25 minutes. Carnmore found it hard to make much headway against the wind, but George Hanley worked tirelessly to try and engineer a goal. They had chances but the Pearses’ defence were solid.andamp;nbsp;
Emmett Ward continued where he had left off in the first half, adding two more points to finish the day with 0-5 from play. Jimmy Gelston was accurate from frees and pitched in with a good score from play. Jim’s brother Niall and Colm Raftery were the other scorers.
Best for Pearses were Emmett Ward, Gary Lally, Gelston and Bellew in midfield and a defence that conceded just 0-3 from play in the course of the game. Carnmore’s best players on the day were Barry and George Hanley. Pearses now top League Group B, with games to come against Killimordaly, Athenry and Portumna.
Pearses: F Flannery (1-0f); A Kenny, T Kenny, R Lally; K Hardiman, S Raftery, K Donnellan; J Gelston (0-8, 7f), A Bellew; C Raftery (0-1), S Hardiman, N Gelston (0-1); G Lally (0-2), E Ward (0-5), B Sweeney. Subs used: P Moore, L Murphy, P O’Brien.