The Senior Hurlers Get off to a Winning Start
Mullahoran 0-5 Clonduff 2-19
The Senior Hurlers travelled to Breffni Park on Saturday to start their 2013 season with a convincing win against Mullohoran from Cavan in the Ulster League. The match was played on the 3G pitch which presented a dry surface to play the game on. Clonduff took the pitch with Andrew Quinn as Captain and Shane Murray as Vice Captain for the year to play a team that hand gone on an unbeaten,20 year run in the Cavan Hurling Championship from 1990 to 2010.
It was obvious in the early exchanges that Clonduff had the superior hurling skills and were able to move the sliothar around well and pick of their scores. Shane Murray opened his account with the first score of the game following on from the dominance of mid-field where Andrew Quinn and Kieran ‘Hooty’ Smith took an early control. They were support by a strong half back line of Sean Downey, Shay Murnin and Ryan Brannigan who chipped in with two points in the first Half. In the half forward line, John Murphy carried on with his accuracy from last year with two free and an excellent 65. Not to be out done by his fellow half forward, Jamie Lynch kept the scoreboard ticking over with two further points coming at the end of some good support play.
However, the score of the half came from Shay Murnin. Following a Mullahoran puck out, Murnin collected the sliothar on his own 45 and carried it strongly out of defence. Delivering the ball into the forward line, he continued his run and got onto the end of a pass from Brannigan and dispatched the sliothar to the back of the net. This 3 pointer left the Yellows ahead 1-10 to 0-1 at half time.
The management team of Damien Fearnon and Alaistair McGilligan talked about avoiding complacency in their half time team talk and keeping the pace of the game up. In the second half, Ryan Brannigan was moved to the full forward line with great effect, adding a further goal and 3 points to his two points from the first half. Murphy increased his tally with a free and two long range points from play.
As the half progressed, Mullahoran began to fade with any rare attacks easily snuffed out by Danny Nugent and Jamie Lowry in the full back line to the point that the keeper, Niall Quinn was rarely troubled. Christopher Young came on for the impressive Brannigan and immediately got onto the score sheet cutting in from the right wing and putting the sliothar over the bar. Ballygorian Beg was well represented with Laurence Murphy coming on to replace his townland neighbour, Hugh Murphy, in the corner back position. Through the second half, Shane Murray linked up a lot of play and moved the sliothar around well finishing the half with a two further points.
This was a non contest from early on but the Clonduff men stuck to their task and start the season on a high note. While there will be stiffer challenges in this season ahead, a win is a win. The next game is scheduled for Saturday the 16th of February at 2:00pm in Clonduff Park against Clonguish from Longford.
Team and Scorers: Niall Quinn, Jamie Lowry, Danny Nugent, Hugh Murphy, Rian Brannigan (1-5), Shay Murnin (1-0), Sean Downey, Andrew Quinn, Capt (0-1), Ciarán Smith, John Murphy(0-6), Shane Murray (0-3), Jamie Lynch(0-2), David Quinn, Liam McParland(0-1), Gavin O’Hagan; Subs used: Chris Young(0-1), Laurence Murphy