PRT turn the tables on Rathdowney/Errill to take the title

Under/15 Hurling ‘B’ Championship Final 

Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe 4-16 

Rathdowney/Errill 2-8 

PARK/Ratheniska-Timahoe produced a magnificent display on Saturday afternoon in the LOETB Centre of Excellence to overcome an unbeaten Rathdowney/Errill side in their U/15 ‘B’ Hurling Championship final.

Daniel Downey was in fine form for the victors, notching 1-5 from play in a fantastic attacking performance, while their backs also did extremely well in limiting a very potent Rathdowney/Errill to few opportunities.

When these sides met in Round 7 of this competition Rathdowney/Errill came out on top by eight points and had been looking unbeatable throughout the competition, but Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe saved their best ‘til last and kept up the good run of form that the club are having in the juvenile grades in recent seasons.

It was Downey who got the scoring underway immediately as he had the ball over the bar just seconds after Jamie McDonald threw the ball in.

A quick reply came from Daniel Bowe and the tone was set for an entertaining contest as Rory Standish fired Rathdowney/Errill ahead with a free in the third minute.

The hits kept coming as Standish flung the ball inside from midfield and it landed on top of Ryan Keeshan who gathered well before turning and lacing it into the net for the game’s opening goal.

Downey responded for the reeling Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe with a point after a mazy run and Bill Brennan added another after good work by their forwards.

An injury resulted in a stoppage to the contest and once the sides got going again it was Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe that responded best with another run from Downey before he handed off to Fiachra Guinan to hammer the net for a goal.

Four points in four minutes followed the goal with Guinan, Brennan, Mark Hanley and Andrew Larkin all on target for Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe to increase their lead to five by the 20th minute.

Rathdowney/Errill did manage a score back from a Standish free to limit the flow, but it wasn’t long until another green flag was raised after good pressure by Hanley allowed Larkin the chance and he made no mistake.

Downey saw out the half with his third point and Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe cruised into half time 2-8 to 1-3 ahead.

Just two minutes into the second half the game was all but put out of sight as Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe soaked up some early pressure before hitting Rathdowney/Errill on the counter attack and slotted their third goal via Brennan with a tidy finish.

Standish fired back with a brace of frees and James Doherty showed incredible ability to strike from midfield as the was being closed down by two opponents as Rathdowney/Errill tried to barge their way back into contention.

Larkin traded scores with Killian Danagher, but after that flurry from Rathdowney/Errill the momentum began to shift once more back in favour of the victors.

Downey would add another score before winning a couple of frees for Larkin to split the posts with and Downey’s performance was capped off with a mesmerising goal as he jinked past several men in white jerseys before bounding down on goal and reefing the net with a powering finish.

The teams traded scores in the aftermath and Rathdowney/Errill were given the slightest glimmer of hope when the Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe backs failed to clear the ball from a brilliant save by Aidan Fingleton and Bradley O’Grady was the man on the spot to strike over the line for a goal.

Park-Ratheniska-Timahoe settled once again however and finished out the game with a late flurry of scores from Larkin, Downey and Adam McDonald.

SCORERS:

Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe: Andrew Larkin 1-6 (0-6fs), Daniel Downey 1-5, Bill Brennan 1-2, Fiachra Guinan 1-1, Adam McDonald and Mark Hanley 0-1 each.

Rathdowney/Errill: Rory Standish 0-4 (fs), Ryan Keeshan and Bradley O’Grady 1-0 each, James Doherty, Killian Danagher, Andrew Barton and Daniel Bowe 0-1 each.

PARK/RATHENISKA-TIMAHOE: Aidan Fingleton; Jack Downey, Joseph Kelly, Tom Boyle; David Cunningham, Sean Hogan O’Donnell, Adam McDonald; Cian Murphy, Cormac Graham; Andrew Larkin, Daniel Downey, Bill Brennan; Fiachra Guinan, Mark Hanley, Alex Sheehan.

Subs: Patrick Bowe for Hanley (58m), Michael Oglesby for Larkin (58m), David Doyle for Cunningham (60m).

RATHDOWNEY/ERRILL: Ciaran Gill; James Keyes, James Doherty, Harry Barton; Devin O’Connell, Patrick Kelly, Sean Ryan; Keelan Walsh, Rory Standish; Killian Danagher, Daniel Bowe, Patrick Ryan; Daniel Keeshan, Ryan Keeshan, Andrew Barton.

Subs: Michael Campion for Ryan (ht), Bradley O’Grady for H Barton (50m), Eoin Guilfoyle for A Barton (50m), A Kirwan for Standish (55m).

Referee: Jamie McDonald (Rosenallis)