Clonkill's storming second half display denies Na Piarsaigh

Clonkill 4-21, Na Piarsaigh 3-9

The U16 Division 1 hurling title went to Clonkill on a cloudy, nippy and breezy Monday evening last as they welcomed Na Piarsaigh, and grabbed victory on home turf. The game was still in the balance at half-time, as the hosts held onto a four-point lead. But in the second-half, things derailed for the Collinstown/Turin side, and the visitors were comprehensively beaten in the end by a superior opposition.

Conor Williams would score all six of Na Piarsaigh’s first half points, four of them from frees, and three of those were superb conversions from the middle of the field. For Clonkill, the main man seemed to be full-forward Martin Joseph Long, who would grab all but two of Clonkill’s first-half points, only one coming from a placed ball. The goals were soon to arrive though, and the first one came after just four minutes, when Colm Clinton’s determination was rewarded when Josh Murtagh pulled the trickling sliotar into the net for Clonkill. The visitors would respond in ideal fashion though; ten minutes later, Conor Williams’s long-range free would drop into a square littered with bodies, one of which being Adam Cully, who grasped the opportunity to put his team’s first three-pointer on the board.

Na Piarsaigh would score their second goal on 19 minutes; Tomás Williams was deemed fouled by the referee when he was bottled up, and up stepped Conor Williams to send a rasper of a penalty past the ash of goalkeeper Ben Loughlin. This was after Michael Brennan and Josh Murtagh had pushed Clonkill four clear minutes earlier, but now the gap was reduced to one.

Clonkill would add two further goals by half-time; Michael Brennan would bounce his shot into the net after Eoghan Daly had superbly knocked the airborne sliotar onto his path on 23 minutes, while Martin Joseph Long would cut in from the wing and rocket home an unstoppable shot into Kyle Carty’s right-hand corner seven minutes later. Clonkill would led by 3-7 to 2-6 at half-time.

Clonkill steam-train

Clonkill would thunder into the second-half. Super points from Aaron Connaire, Michael Brennan, Martin Joseph Long and Conor Cleary had the hosts eleven clear after 48 minutes.

Na Piarsaigh did respond through an Adam Cully goal two minutes later, who pulled on a trickling ball. He would score the visitors final point of the match with five minutes to go, and by this stage, the game had ran away from them.

James McHugh and Josh Murtagh would add their names to the scoresheet towards the end of the match, before Diarmuid Graham pounced on a rebounded James McHugh shot to score goal number four.

The final score of the game went to Martin Joseph Long in added-time.

Clonkill Scorers: Martin Joseph Long 1-9 (0-2frees), Michael Brennan 1-3, Josh Murtagh 1-1, Conor Cleary 0-4, Diarmuid Graham 1-0, Aaron Connaire 0-2, James McHugh and Josh Murtagh 0-1 each.

Na Piarsaigh Scorers: Conor Williams 1-8 (0-5frees, 1-0penalty), Adam Cully 2-1.

Clonkill: Ben Loughlin; Alexander Graham, Adam Slevin Kiernan, Peter Raleigh; Killian Raleigh, Aaron Connaire, Peadar Baird; Ciarán McGrath, Conor Cleary; Colm Clinton, Eoghan Daly, Seán Maleady; Michael Brennan, Martin Joseph Long, Josh Murtagh. Substitutes: James McHugh for Seán Maleady (35), Diarmuid Graham for Peadar Baird (48), Eli Greene for Peter Raleigh and Matthew O’Brien for Josh Murtagh (53), Adam Hughes for Colm Clinton (57), James Nea for Conor Cleary (58 blood-sub), Conor Raleigh for Killian Raleigh and Luka John Fitzsimons for Alexander Graham (59), Conor Cleary for Ciarán McGrath (61).

Na Piarsaigh: Kyle Carty; Dylan Murtagh, Eoghan McHale, Sean Nea; Seán Murray, Conor Williams, James Williams; Lorcan Masterson, Cathal Murtagh; Sam Clerkin, Shane Murray, Luke Dowling; Adam Cully, Tomás Williams, Micheál McArdle. Substitutes: Adam Carey O’Callaghan for Sean Nea (half-time), Sean Nea for Adam Carey O’Callaghan (48).

Referee: Jimmy Greville.