U13 Hurlers’ Winning Start

Pearses 4-8; Ballinderren 4-7. Report by Martina Donnellan. Diarmuid Ryan was the hero with a late late winner as Pearses just about shaded it in the first round U13 championship thriller against Ballinderreen in Ballymac yesterday evening. The visitors must have been heartbroken as this wasn’t the first time that an underage Pearses outfit got the better of a Ballinderreen side in the last few years. Ryan proved the hero for the Pearses boys as his personal tally of 2-1 helped Pearses to dispatch Ballinderreen by the bare minimum after 3mins additional time.

Although Jonah Donnellan opened the games scoring from play, Ballinderreen’s first half scoring was dominated by their free-taker, No. 10 who had a fine match as he landed his first two attempts; the pick of them a massive effort assisted by the breeze from right under the stand.

Dara Scarry responded with a real goal poachers goal after a lovely pick up from Donnellan under the stand, stick passed to Harry Mitchell whose high lobbing ball found the poacher himself who still had some work to do as he rounded the goalie and netted well. The visitors landed another free from midfield, before landing two beauties from play from both the right wing andamp;amp; left wing respectively. Their free taker, No. 10 was in the finest form landing another to bring their account to 0-6 to Pearses 1-1 as Pearses were to a certain degree a bit jittery at stages. Pearses then had an impeccable rally between the 14th and 18th minute.

Diarmuid Ryan pointed from play after Cilly Fahey andamp;amp; Scar set him up. Then Ryan’s wonderful effort thundered off the woodwork before David Walsh opened his account after Ross Lally was fouled; Harry quickly took the free to Walsh on the left wing and he planted over the crossbar. Fahey pointed after Jonah Donnellan fetched a Ballinderreen puckout in midfield. Ballinderreen equalised just before the break when it looked like Jonah Donnellan legitimately dispossessed their forward as he surged through the middle but the ref heard a little tingle of the helmet and awarded a free in instead which they duly converted to level matters before the break: Pearses 1-4; Ballinderreen 0-7.

With the wind at their backs in the 2nd half, the sizeable Pearses crowd felt that their young guns would come out far more assured. However, it was Ballinderreen who got off to the best possible start with two quickfire goals sandwiched between a Cilly Fahey point from play. Fahey andamp;amp; Walsh linked up well as Davy pointed his 2nd of the evening from the left wing. Then Diarmuid Ryan showed great power and strength as he powered through on goal and smack… to the net. Fahey added another point from play to draw the game 2-7 apiece.

Then it looked like Pearses would take hold. Dara Scarry was fouled inside the large rectangle and the ref indicated a penalty. Up stepped Harry Mitchell who made no mistake as he walloped to the net with great confidence. Harry added a free after he was fouled himself. Then it was Ballinderreen’s turn as Pearses’ confidence was dealt a hefty blow when the visitors fired home two superb goals although Darren Moran did get his hurl to one of them. At this stage, Pearses backs: Dillon Roche, Conor Hillary, James Queeney, Padraig Kelly, Patrick O’Neill andamp;amp; Fionn Donohue had a lot of work to do. Suddenly with 40mins up the scoreboard read: Pearses 3-8; Ballinderreen 4-7 – 2 points adrift.

With the clock ticking down, Davy Walsh had a great chance to put Pearses back in front in additional time after good work from Harry andamp;amp; Cilly but his shot from the left wing went across the face of the goal and out wide. With 3 minutes of additional time played, the metronomic Diarmuid Ryan landed the decisive score in the last puck of the game when he gathered a cross from Conor Walsh and with plenty of time to turn on his good side, he let swing and rattled the net. He has been in great goal scoring form of late, but none were as important as this goal as Pearses emerged victorious… just about… on a score line: Pearses 4-8; Ballinderren 4-7. Credit to Ballinderreen; there was very little between the sides in an exhilarating thriller.

Scorers: Diarmuid Ryan 2-1; Harry Mitchell 1-1 (1-0 Pen; 0-1F); Cilly Fahey 0-3; Dara Scarry 1-0; Davy Walsh 0-2; Jonah Donnellan 0-1.

Panel: Darren Moran; Dillon Roche, Conor Hillary, Cathal Hynes, Padraig Kelly, Harry Mitchell, Patrick O’Neill, Anthony Feeney, Jonah Donnellan, Ross Lally, Cilly Fahey, Dave Walsh, Jamie Nutley, Diarmuid Ryan, Dara Scarry, James Queeney, Fionn Donohue, Conor Walsh, Keith Kitt, Eoghan Ryan.Next up is Michael Cusacks in Kilbeacanty next week, date and time yet to be confirmed.