Conahy Shamrocks reached their second Leinster Junior Club Hurling Semi-Final with a comfortable victory over Clonguish from Longford in the Leinster Semi-Final at the Polo Grounds, Jenkinstown on Sat. 16th Nov.
The visitors opened well and although Eoin Carroll scored the first point of the game for the home side, Clonguish with pointed frees from Joe O'Brien and Bart Hanley led for the only time in the game after seven minutes.
That was as good as it got for the visitors as four unanswered points from play from Tom Phelan for Conahy Shamrocks saw the home side take control of the game. The visitors worked hard to get into the game but a solid Conahy defence held sway.
Two points from Kieran Mooney (one a free) saw Conahy lead 0-7 to 0-2 by the twenty-first minute, with Joe O'Brien pointing for Clonguish, their only score from play in the game, to narrow the margin. Three further points for the home side from Kieran Mooney, Edmond Delaney and Donal Brennan had the winners well ahead 0-11 to 0-3 at the interval.
Clonguish Gaels needed a good start to the second half, but it was the home side that got the scoreboard working early with two pointed frees from Kieran Mooney in a matter of minutes.
The visitors were very dependent on full-forward Joe O'Brien for their scores and his accuracy from frees was important to the Longford Senior Hurling Champions.
Conahy Shamrocks dominated the second half with Tom Phelan, John Mullan, Edmond Delaney, Bill Murphy and Kieran Mooney scoring points. The result was well over by the time Eoin Cahill scored the game's only goal for the winners in the twenty-eight minute.
Aside from the early stages of the game, this was a comfortable afternoon for the winners, but improvements will be needed in the upcoming Leinster Final where they will meet far more formidable opponents. Conahy Shamrocks will hope to have their injured captain James Bergin back for that game.
In that Leinster Final to be played on Sat. 30th November at a Wexford venue, Conahy Shamrocks will play Ballygarrett Realt na Mara. The Wexford side scored a very comfortable 4-20 to 1-13 victory in their Semi-Final over Cullion from Westmeath.
Conahy Shamrocks
Padraic Delaney; Simon Callinan; Davy Healy; Liam Cass; Darren Cuddihy; Brian Healy; Eoin Carroll (0-1); Donal Brennan (0-1); Edmond Delaney (0-2, free); Eoin Cahill (1-0); John Mullan (0-2); Tom Phelan (0-5); Thomas Rice; Kieran Mooney (0-9, 0-7 frees); Bill Murphy (0-1).
Subs – Karl Downey (0-1); Padraic Gunner; Thomas Nolan; Cian Harding; Sean Brennan.
Clonguish Gaels
Eanna Daly; Gerard Moore; Paul Hession; Patrick Corcoran; Francis Molloy; Neil O'Connor; Michael Devlin; Stephen Gregg; Paul Barden (Junior); Bart Hanley (0-1, free); Shane O'Brien; Alan Sorohan; Paul Barden; Joe O'Brien (0-6, 0-5 frees); Anthony Corcoran.
Referee – Richie Fitzsimons (Offaly).
