Clough/Ballacolla continue to flex their muscles

Laois Shopping Centre SHC Rd 1 

Clough/Ballacolla 0-21 

Borris/Kilcotton 0-16 

 CLOUGH/Ballacolla's maintained their 100% start to the Laois SHC with a five-point win over Borris/Kilcotton in their clash in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Monday evening.

The contest was due to take place on Saturday but just five minutes the play had to be stopped due to an injury to Tommy Brennan of Clough/Ballacolla and ultimately the match was postponed and rescheduled for Monday as there was no sign of an ambulance for well over an hour.

Both sides won their opening round fixtures with Clough/Ballacolla beating Castletown by 10 points last Sunday while Borris/Kilcotton pulled off an outstanding comeback to defeat Ballinakill with a point in injury time.

Clough/Ballacolla led the contest from the off and never looked like relinquishing their lead despite a late surge from Borris/Kilcotton, with Aidan Corby, Brian Corby and Cillian Dunne the standout performers for the victors.

Borris/Kilcotton weren't at the races early in the contest as the county champions flew into a four point lead within five minutes of John Lalor's starting whistle.

Cillian Dunne got the first before Joe Corby followed and Dunne turned provider with a ball inside to Mark Hennessy who split the posts from close range and Lochlainn Conway bombed one over from midfield to make it four.

The current Premier IHC champions got off the mark through Neil Foyle and Aaron Dunphy followed with a well struck free, but their efforts were quickly cancelled out by scores from Dunne and Brian Corby, who became Clough/Ballacolla's fifth unique scorer within the opening 10 minutes.

Foyle again showed great strength to win a high ball and stick it between the posts before a quick double from Aidan Corby in response, the second of which being a half chance at goal but the ball fizzed over Eoin Fleming's crossbar.

A brace of frees from Aaron Dunphy's saw the board tick further for Borris/Kilcotton, but they would be under pressure late in the half as Clough/Ballacolla hit a run of scorers, starting with a brace from Kevin Hyland.

Stephen Bergin landed his first with a free from the 65 on the terrace side before Cillian Dunne benefitted from good work by Aidan Corby to notch his third and Brian Corby made it 0-14 to 0-6 at half time with another long range effort.

After a fairly tame opening half, the second period was more exciting from the off with Aaron Dunphy firing over a free early on before Joseph Pearson made a marauding run from right corner back and just about cleared the bar for a point.

Dunphy was again on target from a placed ball and Neil Foyle put over his third from play under the terrace, and with another brace from play by Dunphy Borris/Kilcotton were suddenly back in contention with 20 minutes left to play.

Borris/Kilcotton introduced Jer Quinlan and Stephen Phelan at half time which added a huge amount of energy and aggression to their play, something that Clough/Ballacolla failed to match for long periods of the half and Quinlan also had the beating of Darren Maher as he claimed a couple of high balls later in the half and earned frees for Dunphy.

Stephen Bergin halted the Borris/Kilcotton wave with a brace of frees before another pair in return from the on form Dunphy as the contest began to really heat up with players on both sides getting involved in skirmishes, one of which ending with Stephen Phelan on a ground after an off the ball incident - though there was nothing untoward spotted by the officials.

Neil Foyle's excellent performance continued with another good score to put just two between the team with five minutes of normal time left to play and Borris/Kilcotton appeared to have all the momentum as Clough/Ballacolla struggled to make anything work at the other end despite also introducing big names in Willie Dunphy and Jordan Walshe.

Aidan Corby was also excellent throughout the contest however and he got his side back on track with a point after racing into space and Cillian Dunne increased the gap to four and also forced a good save from Eoin Fleming.

The final score of the game came from a Stephen Bergin free deep into injury time and Clough/Ballacolla ran out five point winners after surviving a late onslaught.

SCORERS:

Clough/Ballacolla: Stephen Bergin 0-5 (fs), Cillian Dunne 0-4, Aidan Corby 0-3, Brian Corby 0-2, Kevin Hyland 0-2, Mark Hennessy 0-2, Joe Corby, Lochlainn Conway and Joseph Pearson 0-1 each.

Borris/Kilcotton: Aaron Dunphy 0-12 (0-10fs), Neil Foyle 0-4.

CLOUGH/BALLACOLLA: Cathal Dunne; Joseph Pearson, Darren Maher, Eoin Doyle; Cormac Hogan, Lee Cleere, Lochlainn Conway; Robbie Phelan, Brian Corby; Kevin Hyland, Aidan Corby, Joe Corby; Cillian Dunne, Mark Hennessy, Stephen Bergin.

Subs: Willie Dunphy for Doyle (40m), Jordan Walshe for Phelan (40m), Padraigh Brennan for Hyland (48m).

BORRIS/KILCOTTON: Eoin Fleming; Conor Kilbane, Steven Finan, Enda Parlon; Colm Stapleton, Philip Tynan, Dean Carey; Evan Quinlan, Eoin Daly; Niall Coss, Matthew Whelan, Eoin Fitzpatrick; Eoghain Coss, Aaron Dunphy, Neil Foyle.

Subs: Stephen Phelan for E Coss (ht), Jer Quinlan for Fitzpatrick (ht), Eoin Fitzpatrick for Carey (55m).

Referee: John Lalor (Shanahoe)