Rosenallis get off the mark and leave Ballyfin without a win

Laois Shopping Centre Senior Hurling Championship Rd 2 

Rosenallis 3-16 

Ballyfin 0-16 

ROSENALLIS are off the mark in the 2026 Laois Shopping Centre SHC with a nine-point victory over their neighbours Ballyfin in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Thursday evening.

Conditions were ideal for hurling with no real breeze and the temperatures slightly lower than they were in the late evenings last week, which no doubt the players were thankful for having hurled just last weekend.

Despite the perfect conditions there was a very low turnout in O’Moore Park, down to a number of factors including a host of Junior games on around the county along with it being a Thursday night, which is inevitable if we are to avoid fixture congestion.

Rosenallis had a very quick turnaround with just four days to recover from their three point loss against Clough/Ballacolla on Sunday gone, while Ballyfin were afforded an extra few days having lost out also by three to Portlaoise last Friday.

The sides were level throughout the opening 20 minutes of the contest with underdogs Ballyfin sticking well to the task and limiting the amount of hurling that Rosenallis could do.

A late blitz before half time ultimately did the damage as Rosenallis had three goals before the break with Paddy Keating, David Dooley and Charlie Friel all on target which essentially put the game out of sight before the second half began.

Conor Cosgrove slotted a host of scores for Rosenallis against Clough-Ballacolla and he carried that through to Thursday with a pointed free to open the contest, which was soon cancelled out by a Gary Hofmeister effort from play.

Rosenallis raised the first of three first half green flags when Eoin Connolly made a great effort to stop a shot from Paddy Keating but there was just too much power on the strike and it rolled over the line.

Ciaran Quinn fired over excellently from midfield for Ballyfin as he traded scores with Cosgrove before Ballyfin hit a purple patch and hit three points in succession.

They were without last week's free taker Garreth Dunphy so the duties were left to a combination of Eamonn Duff and Chris Dunne who pointed either side of a good Ronan Carroll effort from play.

Rosenallis were struggling to find their rhythm in the opening twenty minutes or so and relied on a contentious score from John Lennon that may have crept just inside the post to keep in touch, though Ballyfin hit back with a brace of frees from Duff.

The positive start from Ballyfin suddenly came to a halt ten minutes before half time as Rosenallis began to break the lines of defence and notched a couple of scores from Cosgrove and a fine effort from midfield by Fiachra C Fennell.

They continued the pressure with a goal from Charlie Friel after a good team move down the right wing that the youngster finished excellently on the move.

Stephen Kelly then got in on the act with a long range free and there was another hammer blow for Ballyfin when David Dooley rose into the air to guide a long ball in from Jack Friel to guide it into the net.

A late point from Brian Fitzpatrick made it 3-8 to 0-7 at half time in favour of Rosenallis.

Ballyfin player-manager Eanna Lyons powered over the first score of the second half and he was followed by a Duff free before Rosenallis put a halt to the resurgence with a trio of scores from Lennon, Jack Friel and Jimmy Hyland.

The sides traded points with Duff and Darragh Connolly on target for Ballyfin, while C Fennell and Cosgrove hit back for Rosenallis.

After being fairly well marshalled early in the game, one of the rising stars in Ballyfin Shane Connolly hit a serious purple patch when he went on to strike three fantastic points in a row after dropping out to the half forward line.

He added a fourth for good measure but it came after a brace of frees from Cosgrove and the Rosenallis free-taker saw out the game with a score from play to complete the victory.

SCORERS:

Rosenallis: Conor Cosgrove 0-9 (0-4fs, 0-1 65), David Dooley 1-0, Paddy Keating 1-0, Charlie Friel 1-0, John Lennon 0-2, Fiachra C Fennell 0-2, Jack Friel, Jimmy Hyland and Stephen Kelly 0-1 each.

Ballyfin: Eamonn Duff 0-5 (fs), Shane Connolly 0-4, Ronan Carroll 0-2, Eanna Lyons, Ciaran Quinn, Gary Hofmeister, Darragh Connolly and Chris Dunne (f) 0-1 each.

ROSENALLIS: Stephen Kelly; John Maher, Diarmaid Dooley, Oran Gorman; Alex Marron, Fiachra C Fennell, Jimmy Hyland; Charlie Friel, Matthew Bennett; Jack Friel, Conor Cosgrove, David Dooley; John Lennon, Paddy Keating, Brian Fitzpatrick.

Subs: Sam Sommers for Bennett (50m), Joey Shelley for Keating (50m), Keating for Lennon (52m, inj).

BALLYFIN: Eoin Connolly; Cillian Rowney, Sean O'Neill (The Rock), Sean O'Neill; Allan Connolly, Conall Rowney, David Connolly; Darragh Connolly, Ciaran Quinn; Eanna Lyons, Ronan Carroll, Eamonn Duff; Gary Hofmeister, Shane Connolly, Christopher Dunne.

Subs: Shane Conroy for Dunne (ht), Jack Heffernan for David Connolly (37m, inj), Chris Dunne for Cillian Rowney (52, inj).

Referee: Alan Doheny (Castletown)