Seniors: Churchill 0-13; Ballylongford 0-14. Ballylongford travelled to Churchill looking to maintain their 100% record in the County League on Sunday afternoon, while the hosts were hoping to build on their recent good form which saw them record two wins on the bounce and put them right back into the promotion race.
In the end Ballylongford ran out winners by a single point, but Churchill will be left to ponder what might have been, after some wayward shooting and ill-disciplined tackling cost them dearly in a game that they dominated for long periods. Best for Churchill were Eoghan O’Brien, Cathal Rogers and Mitchell Holland. Churchill will have to regroup and will look to get their season back on track when they make the short journey to Austin Stacks next weekend.
Churchill: Eoghan O’Brien, Alan McElliggott, Mitchell Holland, Des McCarthy, JJ Prior, Shane Crowley, Austin Clifford, Killian Fitzgerald (0-04 1free), Garret Walsh, Paul Lenihan (0-01), Cathal Rodgers (0-03), Sean Donnellan, Dara O’Shea, Pa McCarthy, Ivan Parker (0-04 1free). Subs: Peadar Stack (0-01) for Donnellan, Tommy McCarthy for Walsh.
U12A: Churchill 5-08 Laune Rangers 5-17. Played in Killorglin on Thursday, we were defeated by a strong home team.
Trailing by just 1 point at halftime and level briefly in the second half, we had no answer to Rangers superior physicality. In fairness, the writing was on the wall early on but we refused to lie down in the first half and kept taking our scores. When the forwards ran at the opposition, we opened them up but we became lethargic in the second half.
Cian O’Gara especially was a thorn in their side. Some great scores from Oran Murphy, Maurice Lenihan, Billy Doyle, Cian Mason, Oisin McGibney, Hugh Lenihan and John Joe Hanafin coupled with some great goalkeeping from David Chute gave us a real fighting chance going into the second half.
However, conceding soft goals saw us drop in confidence which we must improve on. Art O’Sullivan’s experience of marking their key forward will surely stand to him and once himself, Barry Hamilton and Billy Walsh settled into the game we were in a good position.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and we were beaten by a better team. Disappointing though and similar to the Moyvane game, we fought gallantly for 35 of the 50 minutes which we must improve on. We look forward now to our final two games at home over the next 2 Sundays.
Well done to all the boys who showed great character in the face of adversity and never dropped their heads. Our next game is against Ballyduff where we hope to get back to winning ways.
