Our Lady's scrape through to Harty Cup semi-finals
GAA: Munster Post Primary Schools Senior 'A' Hurling - Dr Harty Cup Quarter Final
Our Lady’s SS, Templemore 1-14
St John the Baptist CS, Hospital 0-16
By Michael Dundon in Dundrum
Gearoid O'Connor kept a cool head under severe pressure to point an injury time free that gave Our Lady’s Secondary School Templemore the slenderest of wins over St. John the Baptist Community School from Hospital in the quarter-final of the Dr Harty Cup yesterday.
It was the Limerick outfit who set the pace from the word go. They were strong down the middle and looked more up for a battle than their rivals as they reeled off four points without reply in the opening seven minutes.
With serious questions being asked of the holders, they responded in the best possible manner with James Devanney and Andrew Ormonde hitting a brace of points each, and free-taker Gearoid O'Connor also did a double as Our Lady’s levelled at 0-6 each after 18 minutes. They then went ahead with another Ormonde point two minutes later.
It was an impressive turnabout but Hospital were not about to roll over and they scored the next three points before Gearoid O'Connor raised a white flag for Templemore to leave the Tipp side trailing 0-8 to 0-9 at the interval.
O'Shea extended Hospital’s advantage with two points early in the second half but in the 38th minute, Templemore got a vital break that saved their day. In a goalmouth scramble from which Hospital should have cleared their lines, Andrew Ormonde poked home a goal to bring his side level.
Over the next fifteen minutes, Hospital hit the front four times only to be hauled back to parity each time. When Gearoid O'Connor pointed Templemore into the lead with five minutes to go, Brian O'Grady responded to level for Hospital.
Both sides had chances in a tense finish but Our Lady’s got the decisive break when a Hospital defender was judged to have handled the ball on the ground. Gearoid O'Connor accepted the responsibility and tapped the twenty metre free over the bar for a winning point in the 63rd minute.
Our Lady's will play Midleton CBS in the semi-final on Saturday 27th January.
More in next weeks Nenagh Guardian
MATCH DIGEST
Man of the Match: Andrew Ormonde (Our Ladys SS, Templemore)
SCORERS - Our Lady’s: Gearoid O'Connor 0-7 (5 frees); Andrew Ormonde 1-3; James Devanney 0-3; Sean Ryan 0-1.
Hospital: Dylan O'Shea 0-10 (8 frees), Brian O'Grady 0-3; Ryan Tobin 0-2; Paul Heney 0-1.
TEAMS - Our Lady’s SS, Templemore: Eoin Collins (Drom & Inch); Sean Ryan (Templederry Kenyons), Fintan Purcell (Drom & Inch), Lorcan Campion (Drom & Inch); Kevin Maher (Borris-Ileigh), Jack Ryan (Toomevara), Eanna McBride (JK Brackens); Michael Egan O'Brien (JK Brackens), Thomas Farrell (Toomevara); Michael O'Connell (Loughmore/Castleiney), John Ryan (Drom & Inch), John Campion (Drom & Inch); Andrew Ormonde (JK Brackens), Gearoid O'Connor (Moyne-Templetuohy), James Devanney (Borris-Ileigh).
Subs: Shane Doyle (JK Brackens) for J Ryan (45); Shane Lowe (Moyne-Templetuohy) for Farrell (52); Conor McGrath (Loughmore/Castleiney) for O'Connell (56).
St. John The Baptist CS, Hospital: Bryan Heney (6); Conor Phipps (6), Roibard Donovan (7), Kryan O'Donnell (6); Kevin Ronan (6), Paul Heney (7), Mark Quinlan (6); Alan Buckley (6), Dylan O'Shea (8); Eoin O'Mahoney (6), Brian O'Grady (7), Paraic Wixted (6); Oisin O'Grady (6), Alan Hanley (6), Ryan Tobin (7).
Subs: John O'Donnell (6) for O O'Grady (37); Michael Martin (6) for Wixted (54).
Referee: Rory McGann (Clare).