Abbeyknockmoy 3-15 Pearses 3-10. Report by Martina Donnellan. Abbeyknockmoy proved too strong for Pearses in Round 2 of the U15 Championship this evening in Ballymacward. The Abbey lads were more physically dominant and although Cian Murphy had Pearses off the mark with a 65’ within 2 minutes, it was Abbeyknockmoy who opened strongly registering the next three points; a free from Thady Moran and two points from play. Ethan Lally’s pointed effort then deflected off the post before Cian Murphy converted a free in front of the posts after a foul was committed on himself. Thady Moran kept the Abbey lads in front with another trademark free. Ethan Lally reduced the deficit on 13mins after Orin Burke from the sideline found Luke Mitchell and he in turn fed Lally who had to shake off a few tackles before firing over. Niall Mannion stretched Abbeyknockmoy’s margin with a lovely point from a difficult angle.
Pearses responded with 1-2 and at this stage in the game were battling gamely. David Hillary’s high lobbing ball into the danger area found Cian Murphy whose pointed effort took a deflection off the crossbar but Ronnie Hynes was well positioned to tap home the rebound to the goalies left on 18mins. A joint combination of Cian Murphy andamp;amp; Orin Burke won a free, duly converted by Ciano while Murphy put over a classic from play when he was first to a long delivery from David Hillary in midfield to put Pearses ahead 1-5 to 0-5. The sides then exchanged points Niall Mannion from play and Cian Murphy with a difficult enough free after Mark Donnellan was fouled. Abbey’s No. 13 then scored a good point from play just on the stroke of half time to leave Pearses ahead by 2points at the break. Pearses 1-6; Abbeyknockmoy 0-7.
Abbeyknockmoy got the best possible start to the 2nd half scoring 1-4 to put early significant daylight between the sides which they retained right to the end. Niall Mannion batted a dangerous bouncing ball to the net while the pick of the points came from a probing run from Thady Moran. Cian Murphy responded with a free after Ethan Lally was fouled but Abbey scored another 1-3; two points from Thady Moran and the goal, which the best goalie in the country wouldn’t have stopped, coming from corner forward Niall Mannion to stretch their lead to 10points. Suddenly Pearses had an uphill task. Harry Mitchell made a mighty save and then Ethan Lally clawed back a precious goal which took a huge chunk out of the deficit. Ciano converted a free from out near the dugouts after a foul on young Darragh Roche. Thady Moran however, maintained Abbeyknockmoy’s advantage with another free. Murphy scored the point of the day after Robert Hynes who was horizontal on the ground, flicked the ball over his head to Ethan Lally who spotted Ciano unmarked in a scoreable position. Murphy added another point from play to make it a 5point ball game with 5mins to go.
Cian Forde ensured Pearses could not get back in contention with a whopping goal to the roof of the net which left Harry Mitchell with absolutely no chance of reaching. David Hillary had an effort which thundered off the crossbar while Cian Murphy scored a well taken injury-time goal from a 21’ free to cut the gap to five but time ran out as Pearses could get no closer as Abbeyknockmoy grabbed full points on a scoreline: Pearses 3-10; Abbeyknockmoy 3-15
Scorers: Cian Murphy 1-9 ( 1-5 F; 65’); Ethan Lally 1-1; Ronan Hynes 1-0.
Panel: Harry Mitchell, Oisin Donoghue, Brian Kelly, Conor Kelly, Paddy Kenny, Niall McDonagh, Robert Hynes, Luke Mitchell, David Hillary, Orin Burke, Cian Murphy, Peter O’ Neill, Ronan Hynes, Ethan Lally, Conor Moran, Mark Donnellan, Darragh Roche, Oliver Laheen, Jack Reilly, Cormac Hillary, Eanna Cunniffe, Robert Fahy.