Champions come good in the second half to blow away Abbeyleix

Clough/Ballacolla 2-22 

St Lazarian’s Abbeyleix 0-16 

THE champions were put to work in the first half before blowing Abbeyleix away in the second half as Clough/Ballacolla ran out 12-point victors over their neighbours in their Laois Shopping Centre SHC clash on Sunday afternoon.

Despite being the only side in the championship with four wins from four, Clough/Ballacolla are still not guaranteed a semi-final berth ahead of the final round in three weeks as they sit two points ahead of The Harps in Group B, so if Clough/Ballacolla were to lose against Portlaoise and The Harps beat Ballinakill they could finish second in the group.

Abbeyleix are still in with a decent shout of progressing to the quarter-finals in Group B as they sit a point behind Portlaoise going into the last round and will be playing Rathdowney-Errill, who also badly need to win if they are to come out of Group A.

The new championship format has created a bumper weekend in three weeks' time, with fixtures dependent, every game could have something on the line but it's now up to the county board to decide what games will be played on what day.

Today's game saw Abbeyleix make good use of the wind advantage in the first half as they held the hot favourites to a point by the break, but The Fung were wasteful in front of the posts and racked up ten wides by half time, with two goals from Cillian Dunne proving the difference for Clough/Ballacolla.

After going in at half time feeling like they could potentially have been ahead, Abbeyleix suffered a slow start to the second half and Clough/Ballacolla hit them hard with six points in a row to open the play and effectively ending the game as a contest as they continued to keep Abbeyleix at bay.

It took just a matter of seconds for Clough/Ballacolla to register their opening goal when Ronan Broderick played a fantastic diagonal ball up the field to Cillian Dunne who caught in well and buried it in the net.

Cormac Byrne hit back with one from play and one from a free as Abbeyleix were without usual marksman Eoghan Fennelly through injury.

Two excellent scores from Willie Dunphy and Dunne put Clough/Ballacolla three ahead once again after seven minutes, but ill discipline cost them as Byrne fired over a brace of frees in reply.

Momentum shifted back to Clough/Ballacolla again when Picky Maher split the posts twice before they got in for a second goal when Stephen Bergin made a driving run through the heart of the Abbeyleix defence and ran right in on goal before flicking it over to Dunne who batted it in on the volley.

Abbeyleix were undeterred despite leaking another goal and Eoin Reilly struck an excellent brace of scores from play after showing great determination to stop the Clough/Ballacolla backs from clearing their lines and Colin Byrne added another moments later.

A score from a Maher free kept Clough/Ballacolla on track but Abbeyleix were using the wind well and Enda Rowland's booming clearances ensured that pressure continued to mount on Darren Maher and his fellow backs.

Alan Lynch and Cormac Byrne both pointed from play to reduce the gap to two once more before a well needed free from Maher, Clough/Ballacolla's second point in almost fifteen minutes of play.

Abbeyleix saw out the half with points from Colm Walsh and Cormac Byrne to leave just one between the sides at half time, at 2-6 to 0-11, but Abbeyleix will be disappointed not to have been leading at the break as they managed to hit 10 wides in the opening 30 minutes.

Dunne again opened the second half scoring with a quick brace of points to get Clough/Ballacolla underway while Abbeyleix missed a couple of early chances and Clough/Ballacolla punished them with two scores from play by Maher.

The champions continued to up the ante with further points from Dunne and their captain Mark Hennessy before Enda Rowland replied back with a driving free against the wind from midfield to raise a rare cheer from The Fung faithful.

Cormac Byrne added another from play for Abbeyleix but Clough/Ballacolla were relentless with scores from Joe Corby, Hennessy and a double from Maher.

Maher and Byrne traded a brace of frees approaching the final ten minutes and Clough/Ballacolla sprang Colm Brennan off the bench for his SHC debut and he marked the appearance with two fantastic scores from range.

The future of Clough/Ballacolla scored two excellent points before two of their stalwarts Stephen Bergin and Willie Dunphy capped off the win with a point each to put on the finishing touches of another big win for their side.

SCORERS:

Clough/Ballacolla: Cillian Dunne 2-4, Picky Maher 0-10 (0-6fs, 0-1 65), Mark Hennessy, Willie Dunphy, and Colm Brennan 0-2 each, Stephen Bergin and Joe Corby 0-1 each.

Abbeyleix: Cormac Byrne 0-9 (0-6fs), Eoin Reilly 0-3, Colin Byrne, Colm Walsh, Alan Lynch and Enda Rowland (f) 0-1 each.

CLOUGH/BALLACOLLA: Cathal Dunne; Diarmaid Conway, Darren Maher, Cormac Hogan; Brian Corby, Lee Cleere, Ronan Broderick; Jordan Walshe, Joe Corby; Robbie Phelan, Willie Dunphy, Picky Maher; Cillian Dunne, Mark Hennessy, Stephen Bergin.

Subs: Lochlainn Conway for B Corby (ht), Colm Brennan for Hennessy (52m).

ST LAZARIAN’S ABBEYLEIX: Enda Rowland; Eamon Fitzpatrick, Oisin Carroll, Eli Quinn; Jack Finlay, Stephen O'Donnell, Ross Coffey; Liam Delaney, Liam O'Keeffe; Colm Walsh, Killian Byrne, Eoin Reilly; Colin Byrne, Alan Lynch, Cormac Byrne.

Subs: Liam Kavanagh for K Byrne (41m), Sam Quinn for Coffey (47m), Liam O'Keeffe for O'Donnell (53m).

Referee: Colin Bailey (Mountrath)