August 28, 2017 at 10:20 am

REPORT/PHOTOS: St Brendan’s Advance After Epic Battle With Abbeydorney

Posted by Dermot Crean

Mike O’Halloran watched an enthralling contest yesterday in Austin Stack Park in the Garvey’s Supervalu Kerry SHC Round 3 replay…

Abbeydorney 2-18

St Brendan’s 1-22

James O’Connor of Abbeydorney fields the ball with Kevin Orpen in close quarters. Photo by Dermot Crean

Heartbreak once again for Abbeydorney when the width of the post denied them at the end of extra time.

Again Abbeydorney and St Brendan’s could not be separated after sixty minutes and had to face a further 20 minutes of action to separate them and even after that the minimum was the winning margin for St Brendan’s.

Nigel Roche and James O’Connor had Abbeydorney two points ahead within two minutes only for St Brendan’s to rattle off four points from Egan, Skinner and two from Cian Hussey.

Continued below…

It was nip and tuck during the first thirty minutes with Abbeydorney keeping ahead with the aid of pointed frees from Nigel Roche, they did have have two points from play by Mike Hannafin and PJ Keane, to leave the halftime score Abbeydorney 0-10 St Brendan’s 0-7.

John Egan and Cian Hussey reduced the margin to one point within three minutes of the restart.

Michael O’Leary on the run with Eric Leen giving chase. Photo by Dermot Crean

David Egan, Ronan Donovan and Nigel Roche added points for Abbeydorney, they led 0-13 to 0-9 with twenty minutes to go.

A minute later James O’Connor received from Donovan he blasted towards goal but Darren Delaney was equal to the shot.

Nicky O’Sullivan had a big influence on the game as he was introduced at full forward, his ability to win ball or at least contest for ball in the air produced scoring chances for St Brendan’s.

O’Sullivan provided scores for Egan, Hussey which reduces the margin to two points on 51 minutes.

Daithi Griffin reduced the margin further two minutes later when John Egan hooked Brian Donovan to allow the ball run to Griffin.

John Egan levelled it up with a free with two minutes left to play 0-15 all.

Abbeydorney players celebrate their late goal at the end of the second half. Photo by Dermot Crean

Ronan Donovan had the ball in the St Brendan’s net after utter confusion in their square, but a minute later Daithi Griffin blasted low to the Abbeydorney net to bring the game to extra time.

Daithi Griffin (No.8) scores St Brendan’s late goal in injury time at the end of the second half. Photo by Dermot Crean

At the beginning of the first half of extra time, Kevin Skinner had two points in a row for St Brendan’s, Nigel Roche exchanged points with Egan.

The last action of the first half of extra time resulted in a goal for David Egan St Brendan’s 1-19 Abbeydorney 2-17.

Abbeydorney only added a point to St Brendan’s three, on the 20th minute of extra time Nigel Roche had a free to put Abbeydorney ahead but his shot hit the post and was cleared down the field. The play developed and Tom Moloney drove over to get St Brendan’s over the line.

Continued below…

I guess Abbeydorney will look back and perhaps rue the absence of Michael O’Leary earlier in the competition and the loss of Eoin Egan towards the end of today’s game.

St Brendan’s will hope that their extra hours of hurling will stand them in good stead for the remainder of the Garveys SuperValu Senior Hurling Championship. SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS…

Abbeydorney scorers; Nigel Roche 0.11, James O’Connor 0.02, Mike Hannafin 0.01, PJ Keane 0.01, David Egan1.01, Ronan Donovan 1.01.

St Brendan’s scorers; John Egan 0-10, Cian Hussey 0-5, Kevin Skinner 0-4, David Griffin 1-2, Tom Moloney 0-1.

• A lot of anger was expressed by patrons as to why there were no programs available for the game. Ok, some programs were hastily produced and distributed to the very small crowd but it is hardly fair on the patrons or the sponsors that the programs were not available for such an important game.