Last Sunday, in front of a large crowd, Edenderry and St. Sylvesters played out an entertaining Leinster Special Junior Hurling Final at Malahide. The game took place in bright winter sunshine although a strong breeze prevailed throughout. Despite recent weather the pitch was in excellent condition for the time of year, however it was soft to yielding in places.
The game started brightly with early chances for both sides and St Sylvesters playing with the aid of the breeze opened the scoring with a 65 metre free in the 4th minute from full forward Martin Ormonde. Edenderry responded within a minute and after an excellent save from Sylvesters goalkeeper Hilary Murray-Hession to deny Jason Carey, Edenderry eventually had the ball in the net from Mattie Moore.
A period of stalemate then began which was broken in the 11th minute by Sean Og Farrell when he scored an excellent point from play after a neat pass from Bill Glennon. St Sylvesters responded with a pointed free from Ormonde before Sean Og struck again for Edenderry, this time a sideline cut from Cillian Farrell found it way to Sean Og who tapped over from 30 metres. From the puckout Cillian Farrell won possession and struck an excellent score from near the sideline about 45 metres from goal. St Sylvesters tactic of feeding everything through their full forward Ormonde payed off in the 15th minute when after excellent play the ball was passed to Ormonde who had space and time to pick his spot and tap over an easy point. Ormonde was again on target minutes later with a free from 40 metres.
A 21 metre free from Cillian Farrell in the 21st minute left Edenderry in front by three points 1-04 to 0-04. In the next attack St Sylvesters scored a very fourtunate goal when a shot by Kieran Falvey was blocked by Brendan McCabe in the Edenderry goals, Falvey then pulled on the ball and sent it across the goalmouth where it was deflected to the net off the leg of an Edenderry defender. In the 22nd minute St Sylvesters took the lead which they held until the finish. A 21 metre free was fired at the goals by Ormonde and after an excellent save from McCabe, Conor McCafferty was quickest to react and he blasted the ball home from close range. A pointed free from Ormonde completed the first half scoring and left St Sylvesters in command on a scoreline of 2-05 to 1-04.
Many Edenderry supporters felt the task was not beyond the team and with the aid of the breeze in the second half, they thought their team would be able to regain control of the game. This was not to be as St Sylvesters continued to dominate the play in the second half and hold out for victory.
Two minutes into the second half, Edenderry reduced the arrears with an excellent score from midfielder Martin Keogh from play. Sylvesters then lost Fergus Rooney with a shoulder injury following a robust challenge from Tom Fay. Cillian Farrell cut the deficit further with a pointed free in the 9th minute, however this was followed by a point from play by Sylvesters substitute Colm O’Connor and four pointed frees by Martin Ormonde to leave Edenderry with an uphill struggle to get back into the game. James Coffey replaced Bill Glennon in the Edenderry attack and Enda Bagnall replaced Derek Egan in the half back line. Cillian Farrell pointed a 50 metre free before Jonathan Geraghty replaced Conleth Carey who picked up an arm injury. A further pointed free from Ormonde and an excellent point from play by Cillian Farrell left the final scoreline St Sylvesters 2-11 Edenderry 1-08.
St Sylvesters fully deserved this victory as overall they played the better hurling, Edenderry can have no regrets after an epic run to the final. The team can be proud to have represented Offaly in a Leinster Final and it will be of huge benefit to them in 2010 to have been hurling right up to the end of the year. The large support that travelled from Edenderry also deserve credit for braving a bitterly cold day to cheer on the team.
Teams & Scorers:
Edenderry
1 Brendan McCabe 2 Thomas Fay 3 Conleth Carey 4 Shane Kelly 5 Derek Egan 6 Eoghan Kelly 7 David Hanlon 8 Shane Connell 9 Martin Keogh (0-01) 10 Ger Hanlon 11 Cillian Farrell (0-05 3 frees) 12 Sean Og Farrell (0-02) 13 Jason Carey 14 Mattie Moore (1-00) 15 Bill Glennon 16 Paul Hanlon 17 James Coffey 18 Andrew Hynes 19 John McDonnell 20 Enda Bagnall 21 Jonathan Geraghty 22 Mick McCabe 23 Eoin Kelly
Team mentors Declan Cummins, Fergal Swaine, Noel Hanlon
St Sylvester’s
1. Hilary Murray Hession 2. Damien Rooney 3. Ian McCafferty 4. Patrick O'Leary 5. Alan Morris 6. Enda O Flaherty 7. Darragh O Flaherty 8. Ronan Kennedy 9. David Casey 10.Fergus Rooney (1-00) 11. Conor McCafferty(1-00 ) 12. David Keogh (0-01) 13. Keiran Falvey 14. Martin Ormonde (0-09, 1 65 and 6 frees) 15. Tom Reddy 16. Colm O Connor (0-01) 17. Gregg Hannon 18. Mannix Ryan 19. Geoff Walshe 20. Dónal Hayes 21. Killian Kirrane 22. Pádraig Kennedy . 23. Pádraic Duffy 24. Anthony Dunne 25. Paul Christie
Team Mentors Pádraic Duffy Ronan Hayes
Referee Alan Lagrue (Kildare)
