Pearses 4-11; Sylane 3-2: Report by Martina Donnellan. Forget about the World Cup and Belgium vs Japan last night. Every element and aspect of the game of hurling was seen in Ballymac yesterday evening in Round 3 of the U13B hurling. Orin Burke, Paddy Kenny and Jason Rabbitte lifted themselves into the beautiful blue sky on numerous occasions and plucked the sliotar clean out; some excellent block downs from Cillian Fahy and Cormac Hillary; the superb work rate of Anthony Feeney; some lovely over the shoulder passes; some top class scores (4-10 from play) and five different scorers. Ultimately a happy bunch of ‘pure’ sports fans strolled to victory over a strong and more physical Sylane outfit and so top the group to earn a place in the U13B Semi-final possibly against Moycullen TBC.
Dara Scarry had Pearses off the mark within a minute with a wonderfully taken point as he clinched the air with pure delight as he ran back into position. Sylane put their noses in front a minute later with a well taken goal as they ran through the heart of Pearses defence leaving Harry Mitchell with no chance. The gloveless Jason Rabbitte almost ran from Newcastle as he gathered an over the shoulder pass from Anthony Feeney and throttled through a gap in the middle before sweetly striking over the bar. At this stage Harry Mitchell made two saves in quick succession as Pearses were still finding their feet.
Pearses gradually got to grips with the game on 9mins after Cillian Fahy spotted Jason Rabbitte unmarked but still with great work to do, he finished low and hard to put the home side in command. Ronan Hynes opened his account with a well taken point as Rabbitte and Cillian Fahy were both involved in the build-up. At this stage, Emmet Kelly was in danger of getting sun stoke as there was an urgent request for a sun cap from the umpire who couldn’t do his job very well with the strong Summer sunshine. We didn’t want another Waterford vs Tipperary story!!!Orin Burke’s free from midfield was swung into the square, added to by Anthony Feeney, Scarry and Darragh Roche and eventually batted to the net by Ronan Hynes who took his opportunity well to help Pearses to an interval lead of 3-3 to 1-0.
Jason Rabbitte tapped over a free 4 mins after the restart after Darragh Roche was fouled. Cillian Fahy opened his account with a lovely point on the run after first blocking down his marker who was almost twice his height. Orin Burke’s free found Ronan Hynes who sprayed the ball into the square and after some hesitation in the Sylane defence, Dara Scarry whipped first time to find the net and penalise Sylane for their scrappy defending.
Straight from the resultant puck out, Orin Burke fetched from the sky, drove forward and after a smart side step, composed himself before adding to Pearses tally with a long range point. Sylane goaled with a good effort 8mins into the 2nd half and immediately added a free from about 45’ out to offer them a lifeline. But Pearses failed to panic as Ronan Hynes added his 2nd point after Orin Burke and Cillian Fahy were involved in the move.
Another beautiful piece of play from Rabbitte led to his 2nd point from play as he stole a march on his player, got in ahead of the defender in a 50/50 ball, robbed the ball and struck over for a sweet point taken on the run. Cillian Fahy added a brace of points from play; his first after he rounded two defenders and then split the posts after Ronan Hynes crossed in from the corner.
Sylane added their first point from play from a difficult angle and then added a bullet of a goal in a late scoring flurry. Rabbitte finished straight in front of the posts after Anthony Feeney and Ronan Hynes’ vertical passes straight across the field. Ronan Hynes put the perfect gloss on the game for Pearses with a late goal from a ground pull to find the net deep into injury time. And so it finished Pearses 4-11; Sylane 3-2 as Pearses delivered a superb performance to earn a place in the U13B semi-final.
Scorers: Ronan Hynes 2-2; Jason Rabbitte 1-4 (0-1F); Dara Scarry 1-1; Cillian Fahy 0-3; Orin Burke 0-1.
Panel: Harry Mitchell, Conor Hillary, Conor Kelly, David Walsh, Cormac Hillary, Paddy Kenny, Jack Reilly, Jonah Donnellan, Orin Burke, Ronan Hynes, Anthony Feeney, Jason Rabbitte, Dara Scarry, Darragh Roche, Cillian Fahy, Ross Lally, Dylan Roche, Padraig Kelly, James Queeney, Patrick O’Neill, Jamie Nutley, Diarmuid Ryan.