Our hurling analyst, Mike O’Halloran, reports on an incredible day for Lixnaw hurling.
WITH all eyes on Austin Stacks Park on Sunday, Lixnaw travelled to Mallow to play the Cork Intermediate hurling champions Ballyhea in the Munster quarter final.
Lixnaw won on a scoreline of 3-11 to 1-14. It was Lixnaw’s first win in Munster.
Most people gave Lixnaw little hope of a win, given that they were without John Griffin and Paul Galvin.
They were 1-10 to 1-3 down at half-time and even the most optimistic fans in the stand were only hoping for a bit of a rally in the second half and with Ballyhea opening brightly with a point on thirty seconds of the resumption, the writing looked to be on the wall.
But Michael Conway and James Flaherty had not seen that wall, never mind the writing, when they fired 2-8 between them with Flaherty bagging two goals to add to his goal in the first half.
Conway had taken over the free taking from Ricky Heffernan who was injured in the very first minute of the game.
Ricky recovered but had to leave the field later and, Lazarus like, he was reintroduced to good effect half way through the second half. Flaherty also had two fine points and was in tough luck for one or two more.
This was a truly remarkable display by Lixnaw in the second half. It must rank as one of the greatest ever displays by any Kerry team club or county in living memory and was well and truly deserved.
Lixnaw now meet Bruff in the semi-final at home in two weeks time and they will relish that challenge in front of their home fans, it was also great to see hurling people from the other clubs up in Mallow cheering on Lixnaw.
