RCC 1-8 SGC Castlebar 2-6
RCC junior hurlers travelled to Connacht COE in Bekan on Tuesday last to play St Gerald’s College Castlebar. In what was a bitterly cold day for hurling, both teams played their part in a riveting 60 minutes.
RCC asserted dominance in the opening 10 minutes with some excellent link up play around the middle third between Tom Hanley, Ryan Halligan and Rory Connolly, creating numerous chances for the forwards. Luke Shally was sharp upfront and managed to get some early scores to settle RCC into the game. SGC were slow to threaten the scoreboard, which was mainly down to excellent defending, led superbly by full back Nathan Flynn.
Approaching half time SGC scored two points in quick succession, but RCC immediately responded with two points from Rory Connolly and Luke Hayes. The half time score of 5-2 in favour of RCC did not yet reflect the supremacy of the boys in yellow.
The second half saw the game turn on its head as SGC came storming out and stunned RCC with two well-taken goals. However, two successive points for the SGC full forward soon followed. RCC began clawing back the deficit with Luke Hayes striking over a beauty from the sideline. Luke Shally began to get a supply of ball into the full forward but unfortunately was out of luck as the post came to the rescue of SGC on 2 occasions. Some last ditch defending also denied Aaron Conneely and Harry McDermott from raising a green flag.
Time was running out for RCC when a long-range delivery from Nathan Flynn found its way to the net. This left one point between the sides with only injury time remaining. Unfortunately, RCC could not create another scoring opportunity to level the game before the referee blew for full time.
RCC will now play Coláiste Chiaráin in the final round in what is a ‘winner takes all’ clash to determine who qualifies for the knock-out stages.
RCC team: Mark Naughton, John Silva, Nathan Flynn, Sean Fannon, Jonah Finneran, Tom Og Reddington, William Staunton, Ryan Halligan, Rory Connolly, Harry McDermott, Tom Hanley, Luke Hayes, Dan Monaghan, Luke Shally, Sean Richardson, Jack Lally, Liam Connolly, Jack Gormley, Aaron Conneely, Evan Fetherstone.
