Wicklow Intermidiate Hurling Glenealy vs Bray Emmets

 

Bray Emmets 1-15

 Glenealy 1-16

 Kilcoole Gaa

 A last-minute Cormac Byrne goal proved decisive in Kilcoole on Friday evening.

 

It was Bray that started this game stronger on Friday but after a couple of early wides a Glenealy free from Lorcan Byrne gave them the before Alan Conyard goal bound effort doubled the lead.

The north Wicklow side managed to narrow the gap when Mayo man Art Óg O’ Sullivan drove over from long distance.

The long ball into Conyard was causing trouble early on with John McIlhenny managing to extend the gap after picking up the breaks.  It was then the turn of Brendan Hawes whose long-range ball inside went long over the bar. With ten minutes on the clock there were two between the sides as Senan Croke split the posts.

With scores firing over at both ends, Darragh Leacy put three between the sides before the score of the game. Just on the quarter mark Bray put a ball over the sideline, Alex O’ Dowd stood up to cut it  over from an acute angle.

This score kicked the Emmet’s into gear lead by Willie Cash who opened his account from play before adding two more from dead balls in between a Mikey Lee minor from play. Just as it looked like Brau would go in ahead at the break, Byrne managed to give his side the lead with two fine frees.

 

Once the game restarted the first goal game inside three minutes as Mikey Lee raised a green flag, Cash added two more from play as the momentum had swung completely. The reds then started to play again with Charlie Cruise raising a flag from play along with two more placed balls from play. It was turning into a battle between Byrne and Cash who would be the top scorer as they traded scored before the ten-minute mark.  The Bray forward line seemed to be getting on top as Cillian Ryder and Conor Broderick kept the scores ticking over. Further efforts from Cash and Broderick kept a goal between the sides even though Byrne was narrowing the gap every time he could.

When the clock hit ten minutes to go Cash and Cian Byrne looked like they had done enough but this wasn't the case. Three frees from Glenealy, two from Byrne and the final one off the hurl of Aaron Meade. This had two between the sides as the game went into added time. As the ref was about to finish the game the sliotar landed into the hands of substitute Cormac Byrne who rounded the defender before rattling the back of the net and winning the game for his side.

 

 Bray Emmets: Dara Maloney, Dan Kennedy, Peter Kiely, Mickey Timmons; Matthew McGovern, Sean Kenny, Ciaran Kelly,; James Byrne, Art Óg O’ Sullivan (0-1); Senan Croke (0-1), Cian’ Byrne(0-1), Conor Broderick(0-2); Cillian Ryder(0-1),William Cash (0-8 3fs),Tristan Doherty.

 

Subs Used; Mikey Lee (1-1) for Tristan Doherty, Sam Kearney for Cillian Ryder, Fiachra O’ Dunaigh for Sean Croke, Shane Anders for James Byrne.

 

 

Glenealy: Keith Lawless; Lee Kavanagh, Stephen Cruise, Keane Furlong; Brendan Hawes(0-1), Emmet Ronan, Jack Veale; Lorcan Byrne (0-9fs), Alex O’ Dowd(0-1); Darragh Leacy(0-1), Aaron Meade (0-1f), Charlie Cruise(0-1); John McIlhenny (0-1), Alan Conyard, James French

Subs used: Jack Byrne for Keane Furlong, Cormac Byrne (1-0) for Lee Kavanagh, Andrew Lynch for Brendan Hawes, Tj O’ Neill for Alan Conyard

 Referee Paul Porter