Turloughmore
2-16 Beagh 2-11
Turloughmore
defeated Beagh in their final Group in Athenry on Sunday evening to advance
to the Quarter finals of the championship for the first time since 2004.
Turloughmore
defeated Beagh in their final Group in Athenry on Sunday evening to advance
to the Quarter finals of the championship for the first time since 2004.
This
was a hard fought victory with Beagh living up to their reputation as being a
team that are extremely hard to beat in championship hurling.
Turloughmore
had breeze advantage in the opening half but struggled to take advantage of it
as Beagh set up in a manner which both curbed Turloughmore and allowed them to
build a 1-8 to 1-7 half time lead. Kevin Keehan opened the scoring with a Beagh
free, before Turloughmore got their first score – a goal. Ronan Badger released
Gary Burke whose shot hit the crossbar but Brian Murphy was on hand to finish
from close range.
Points from
Padraig Landers and Kevin Keehan had Beagh 1-4 to 1-1 ahead on 14 minutes –
Ronan Badger with a 65 getting the Turloughmore score. Beagh’s movement in
attack was impressive, but points from Francis Forde, Denny Forde and Ronan
Badger had Turloughmore back level – 1-4 apiece – by the 23rd
minute.
The nip and
tuck nature continued to half time, with Ronan Badger (3 frees) swopping scores
with Kevin Keehan (2 fees) and Joe Gantley, before Keehan shot an injury time
free to leave Beagh 1-8 to 1-7 ahead at the interval. The sides had been level
5 times in that opening half.
Beagh had
breeze advantage in the second half, but Turloughmore produced a more driven
performance to take the game to their opponents. Ronan Badger quickly equalised
before Gary Burke’s ground delivery put Brian Murphy in and Murphy was fouled
for a penalty – Daithi Burke stepped forward and shot the penalty to the net
and Turloughmore now led by 2-8 to 1-8.
Kevin Keehan
(2 frees) answered Turloughmore points from Ronan Badger (free) and Gary Burke
to leave Turloughmore 2-10 to 1-10 up on 40 minutes. Keeper Paul Dullaghan then
pulled off a fine save before Beagh equalised with a goal on 45 minutes. Kevin
Keehan’s free was saved by Paul Dullaghan, but Beagh’s Kieran Diviney finished
the ball – which had flown up into the air - to the net to leave it at 2-10
apiece with 15 minutes to go.
Turloughmore
responded to the challenge however. Ronan Badger with 3 points in a row – 2
from frees – had Turloughmore 2-13 to 2-10 ahead on 50 minutes, and a converted
65 by Darren O Shaughnessy extended the lead to four points with 5 minutes
left.
Then on 56
minutes a forceful run by Cian Burke ended with him winning Turloughmore’s second
penalty of the game – this time Ronan Badger tapped it over the bar and though
Beagh attacked late on, Paul Dullaghan deflected Kevin Keehan’s 58th
minute free over the bar. Fittingly, Daithi Burke completed the scoring with a
long range free to copper fasten a 2-16 to 2-11 final scoreline and this
result, coupled with Mullagh’s 1-21 to 1-11 defeat of Sarsfields, meant that
Turloughmore and Mullagh advance from the group to the Quarter Finals.
Above: Dathi Burke catches a puck out over Beagh's Joe Gantley.
Team:
Paul
Dullaghan;
Cian Morris, Fergal Moore, Michael Casserley,
Brian Holland, Daithi Burke (1-1, 1-0 Pen, 0-1
free), Mark Murphy,
Matthew Keating, Denis Forde
(0-1),
Cian Burke, Darren O Shaughnessy (0-1 65), Gary Burke (0-1),
Brian Murphy (1-0), Ronan Badger (0-11; 0-7 frees, 0-1 65, 0-1 Pen), Francis
Forde (0-1).
Sub:
Kevin Hussey for D Forde
Beagh Team:
K O Grady, J Morris, A Diviney,
M.Geaghan, B McGuane, K Keehan (1-8, 1-7 frees), PJ McAllen, J. Gantley (0-1),
J Diviney, T McKeown, K. Diviney (1-0), A. Tuohy, D. Landers, R Gantley, P.
Landers (0-2). Subs T Fallon, S Diviney
Ref: M. Dolan
Our thanks
to Kevin Conneely for the photos of the game that can be seen here.