Minors win semi-final!

Last Sunday saw the meeting of 4 of the best hurling teams in Ireland competing for a place in Patrick’s Day’s All-Ireland Final. But neither the semi-final in Semple Stadium or Parnell Park managed to match the class and excitement seen earlier that day in the Minor ‘C’ Championship semi-final between Donaghmore/Ashbourne and Rathmolyon, in which our minors roared through to victory.

The lads burst out of the blocks and played the first half at a blistering pace that caught Rathmolyon off guard and all they could do was watch the magnificent display in front of them. Although it must be said that they had the help of a strong wind.

Hopes were somewhat low in Ashbourne when people learned that top scorer Andrew Tormey would miss the game through injury. But Conor Miller stepped up on the day, played very well and worked extremely hard throughout the match. This match report would not be complete without mentioning Miller’s moment of magic in the first half, when the ball was driven in to him and he instinctively met the ball directly with his hurl and couldn’t have placed his pass better into David Carey’s path.(How intentional this move was is still under debate, but I’m giving Conor the benefit of the doubt and giving him full credit) Unfortunately Carey was still utterly mesmerised by the touch of class he had just witnessed as he bore down on goal and missed his goal chance.

This was one of the very few scoring opportunities that Carey let slip. Just as Joe Canning had the people of Thurles in awe of his performance later that Sunday afternoon, David had the crowd in Ashbourne amazed as he gave an exhibition in point taking with a final tally of 11 points. A scoreline that stacks up against any performance of Canning’s. The lads kept up the great work through the first half and with 7 points from Carey, a peach of a goal by Colm Randle, and a goal and a point from Cathal Field, Donaghmore were ahead at half time with a score of 2-8 to 0-3.

The team knew well that Rathmolyon were going to come at them strongly in the second half to get back in the game. Lucky for the team, they had two cunning ‘Cats’ on their side, in Harry and Ken, who made a switch bringing Bryan Menton back into the half back line. This proved to be an ingenious move as Menton mopped up everything that came his way. Rathmolyon threw all they had into their second half performance and put serious pressure on the Ashbourne defence. But our full back line of Conor Walsh and Danny McShane dealt extremely well with the pressure, with plenty of ball raining down upon them. With the original currently otherwise engaged, either of the lads in the full back line would be fully entitled to take the title of ‘The Rock’ in defence.

I can’t finish this report mentioning the outstanding performance by the dynamo of the Hawthorns, Cathal ‘Squeek’ Field. He played centre field on the day and ran himself into the ground. ,

With a great performance and work rate by the whole team, the lads held out to win the match, 2-13 to 3-7. Both teams played their part in what turned out to be a spectacular hurling match.

Team on the day: Sean Kent, Conor Walsh, Danny McShane, Mitchell O Meara, Sean Markham, Bryan Menton, Cathal Field(1-1), Steven Leahy, David Carey(0-11), Colm Randle(1-1), Conor Miller. Subs: Ross Gilsenan for M. O Meara(inj), Shane Rock for Steven Leahy(inj).

Final will be played Thursday at 7.30 in Dunganny