First win for Harps lifts them off bottom
Ross Deegan pointing this sliotar between the posts for The Harps.
The Harps picked up their first win in Division 1 of the ACHL and lifted themselves from the foot of the table with an exciting one-point victory over Borris-Kilcotton in Durrow early on Sunday afternoon.
It was a fine and bright morning for the early throw in but a fierce breeze blew nonetheless and the hosts took full advantage of it in the first half as they racked up a nine-point lead by half time.
The Harps are currently in somewhat of a transitional period as they bed in some of their juvenile stars of recent years with the likes of Ross Deegan, Tony Mahony, Liam Kirby and Eoghan Murphy all starting but it was one of their stalwarts in Ciaran Comerford that led the scoring charge from placed balls and he had seven points by half time.
The youngsters were also making themselves known however as Ross Deegan fired 1-2 from play and Liam Kirby finished with four points in two impressive displays.
As expected, Borris-Kilcotton came battling back in the second half with PJ Scully firing over a series of scores and Jer Quinlan finding his range with three from play, but The Harps kept digging in and eventually held on.
The sides traded a trio of scores early on with braces from Scully and Comerford from placed balls while Eoin Fitzpatrick and Ross Deegan both struck from play.
After the early exchanges the hosts began to take control and went into a two point lead via a Comerford free and a well taken point from range by Padraic Dunne before Comerford played an excellent ball inside to Ross Deegan who did very well to find the space to bat it into the net for a goal.
Scully briefly stemmed the flow with a point for Borris-Kilcotton, but The Harps' tails were up and they came flying back with five scores in a row.
Dunne was again on target from range while Liam Kirby popped over two wonderful quintessential corner forward points on the turn and Comerford hit a pair of frees to see them go nine ahead midway through the half.
Comerford, Kirby and Deegan all struck again from play but they were matched by Scully at the opposite end with two frees and one from play.
Scores from Comerford and James Duggan increased The Harps lead again before Scully launched over a free followed by a 65 after he was denied a goal by Peter Walshe, but Borris-Kilcotton trailed 1-15 to 0-9 at the break.
Not unlike the opening of the first half the pair traded two points each to open the second in a frantic start to the half before Borris-Kilcotton settled and found their range now with the breeze behind them.
Evan and Jer Quinlan were both on target for the visitors before the latter latched onto a pass from Scully and broke inside before handing out to Neil Foyle who got it over the line for a goal.
A second point of the game from Jer Quinlan put three between the sides by the midway stage of the half and Borris-Kilcotton suddenly were doing all the hurling.
The Harps brought on a couple of subs in Eoin Delaney and Michael Monahan to freshen things up and it worked as Delaney had a hand in scores for Comerford and Duggan, though they were matched by Scully and Fitzpatrick.
Four points separated the teams with ten minutes left and Borris-Kilcotton were going through the gears once again as Scully landed three points in succession and Jer Quinlan pointed excellently to draw the sides level.
Stephen Dunphy got his solitary score of the game to put Borris-Kilcotton ahead for the first time in the 58th minute and it appeared as thought the visitors were going to nick it, but the hosts had other ideas.
Eoin Delaney struck over from close range and made a great run to set up Kirby to put The Harps one ahead in injury time.
A draw looked on the cards when Connor Kilbane scored an outrageous point from corner back, but there was one final twist in the tail when The Harps were awarded a free in midfield and there was no doubting that Comerford was going to fire it straight over the bar for the winner.
Ciaran Comerford 0-11 (eigth frees), Ross Deegan 1-2 Liam Kirby 0-4, James Duggan 0-3, Padraic Dunne 0-2, Eoin Delaney 0-1.
PJ Scully 0-14 (nine frees, one 65), Neil Foyle 1-0, Jer Quinlan 0-3, Eoin Fitzpatrick 0-2, Evan Quinlan, Connor Kilbane and Stephen Dunphy 0-1 each.
Peter Walshe; Rory Dunne, Ciaran Flynn, Eoghan Doheny; Tiarnach Doheny, Padraic Dunne, Hugh Whelan; Shane Fitzpatrick, Eoghan Murphy; Jack Kennedy, Ciaran Comerford, Tony Mahony; Liam Kirby, Ross Deegan, James Duggan.
Eoin Delaney for Fitzpatrick (40), Michael Monahan for Mahony (48), Conor Dunne for T Doheny (53), Aaron Mahon for Duggan (58).
Eoin Fleming; Eoin Daly, Steven Finan, Connor Kilbane; Niall Coss, Enda Parlon, Frank McGovern; Evan Quinlan, Dean Carey; Eoghain Coss, Jer Quinlan, Eoin Fitzpatrick; PJ Scully, Neil Foyle, Stephen Dunphy.
Evan Gray for Daly (ht), Joe Campion for Coss (45).
Kieran Bowe (Rathdowney-Errill)
