Two goals for Cunningham as Ringtown advance to final

Slevin’s Coaches Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final: Ringtown 5-19, Clonkill 1-13

Gerry Buckley reports

Ringtown are deservedly through to the final of the Westmeath intermediate hurling championship, albeit their 18-point winning margin was undoubtedly flattering against Clonkill in last Saturday’s enjoyable penultimate round clash played in pleasant conditions at Kinnegad.

On this evidence, Nigel Mannion’s side will be hard beaten in the decider, albeit the brace of late goals they scored are unlikely to be replicated in a tighter contest. Their mixture of seasoned players and promising youngsters will certainly harbour ambitions of competing in the senior ‘B’ ranks in 2023.

Jason Moran put the men in the green and gold stripes into an early two-point lead by converting a brace of fine long-range frees, but unanswered points from the sticks of Mark Keegan (a huge wind-assisted shot), Evan Scally (a 65-metre free), and a great score from Ciaran Nooney nudged Clonkill ahead by the 11th minute.

Ryan McCauley and the outstanding Mark Cunningham soon pointed at the other end, before Oisín Murray’s goal put the losers in front by 1-3 to 0-4 by the end of the opening quarter.

Moran (a free) and Nooney (an opportunist score) traded points, but Ringtown went on to score 2-4 without reply between the 19th and 29th minutes. Cunningham scored both goals with great aplomb, with the white flags being raised by Emmet Corrigan (a huge free), Johnny Hardman, Cunningham, and Sean Boylan.

A point exchange between Murray and Moran – the latter a free with the last puck of the half – left Ringtown ahead by 2-10 to 1-5 at the interval.

Within a minute of the resumption, Nooney converted a close-range free – which might have been a penalty on another day – but Cunningham responded with two classy points for the winners.

Points from Christopher Austin, Enda Morrison and Nooney (a free) left Clonkill six points in arrears (2-12 to 1-9), before Boylan’s flicked goal in the 40th minute gave Ringtown some breathing space. The hard-working Corrigan soon added a point.

Unanswered scores from Morrison (two – the second from a free) and Murray, prior to a point exchange between sub James Boylan and Morrison, kept the men in their traditional green and gold jerseys just about in contention.

However, their opponents dominated the closing quarter of an hour, scoring 2-5 without reply therein. The points came courtesy of Moran (a free), Corrigan (two – a free and a great score from open play), and Cunningham (two frees).

The goals wrapped up the scoring in injury-time, and they came via Corrigan (a preventable score from a free) and Luke Moore, the latter teed up by fellow-sub Jeffrey Nea.

Scorers – Ringtown: M Cunningham 2-6 (0-2f), E Corrigan 1-4 (1-1f), J Moran 0-5 (5f), S Boylan 1-1, L Moore 1-0, R McAuley, J Hardman and J Boylan 0-1 each. Clonkill: O Murray 1-2, C Nooney (2f) and E Morrison (1f) 0-4 each, M Keegan, E Scally (f) and C Austin 0-1 each.

Ringtown: Pat Burke; Thomas Daniels, Shane Murtagh, Niall Moran; Charles Flynn, Darren Kilcoyne, Ryan Moore; Mark Cunningham, Ciaran Moran; Paul Nangle, Emmet Corrigan, Ryan McAuley; Sean Boylan, Johnny Hardman, Jason Moran. Subs used: James Boylan for Flynn (45), Jeffrey Nea for Nangle (47), Luke Moore for J Moran (54), Conor O’Grady for Hardman (60), Jack McMahon for Daniels (60 + 1).

Clonkill: Scott Murray; Eoin Egerton, John Fagan, Ciaran Egerton; Jack O’Brien, Mark Keegan, Evan Scally; Brian Gaffney, Paul Poynton; Ciaran Nooney, Christopher Austin, Robbie Cleary; Cillian Doyle, Oisín Murray, Enda Morrison. Subs used: Scott Murtagh for O’Brien (23), Darragh McLoughlin for E Egerton (inj., 28), Stephen Colgan for Doyle (inj., 41), Sean McKeon for Gaffney (43), Ryan Mannering for Cleary (60 + 3).

Ref: James McGrath (Turin).