Second-half surge sends Slieve Bloom cruising into quarter-final

Slieve Bloom 2-28 

Trumera 2-14 

SLIEVE Bloom booked their place in the Laois Shopping Centre IHC quarter-finals after blowing Trumera away in the second half to win by 14-points in Slieve Bloom on Friday evening.

The game was still in the balance at half time when Slieve Bloom had a three-point lead, but they just had too much scoring power for Trumera in the last 20 minutes of the game.

Niall Sinnott opened the scoring for Trumera, but it was quickly cancelled out with an outrageous sideline puck from Kelvin Burke.

The first goal of the game came soon after through Dylan Lalor as Trumera started the game well.

Burke added another point, before Dylan Lalor and Ruaidhri Kavanagh extended Trumera's lead in the early stages of the game.

Slieve Bloom started to settle and reeled off four quick points through Fergal Burke, Ciaran Conroy, Ben Conroy and the impressive Conor Madden to draw the game level.

Trumera were hurling well with Niall Sinnott adding two frees in a row and were making a real contest of it in the first half.

Josh Holmes then responded for Slieve Bloom and in the next attack Trumera were awarded a penalty after Paddy Hosey was fouled.

Sinnott nailed the penalty which opened up a four-point gap 2-5 to 0-7, the home side then responded emphatically. They would hit four more points in a row.

This time Ben Conroy, Kelvin Burke who grabbed a brace while Enda Conroy got on the scoresheet to draw the game level once more.

Both sides then traded points through Ruaidhri Kavanagh and Fergal Burke as there was nothing between the sides, as Trumera were producing their best performance of their campaign to date.

Kavanagh then put Trumera into the lead, but Slieve Bloom hit four more in a row for the third time through Ciaran Conroy (two frees), while Conor Madden and Kelvin Burke putting their side into the lead.

Finnian O'Connor and Ciaran Conroy traded points once more as Slieve Bloom led 0-17 to 2-8 at the break.

The home side opened the scoring in the second half through Jake Collins and Enda Conroy to increase their lead.

Trumera then hit a purple patch of their own as they reeled off four points through Kavanagh and three frees from Niall Sinnott to leave the scores at 0-19 to 2-12 with 20 minutes to go.

Ciaran Conroy who was class on frees all night hit two more as Slieve Bloom were starting to move up the gears. Sinnott added another free, but Slieve Bloom put the game to bed in the next five minutes.

Jake Collins hit a brace, and in between his two points Ben Conroy found the back of the net with a clever finish while Conroy added another free to open up an eight-point gap.

Rhys Murphy added a point from play for Trumera with ten minutes remaining and that was to be their last score of the game as they faded out of the game.

The class of Slieve Bloom's forwards told in the end. Josh Holmes added a brilliant point from play and straight after that Conor Madden struck for another goal to kill the game off.

Trumera were then reduced to 14 men with six minutes remaining after Ruaidhri Kavanagh was given a straight red card for a dangerous tackle.

It mattered little as the game was over at that stage. The victors hit the last three points through Jake Collins, Ciaran Conroy and Conor Madden as they cruised to victory.

SCORERS:

Slieve Bloom: Ciaran Conroy 0-8 (fs), Conor Madden 1-3, Ben Conroy 1-2, Kelvin Burke 0-5 (0-1 sideline), Jake Collins 0-4, Fergal Burke, Josh Holmes and Enda Conroy 0-2 each.

Trumera: Niall Sinnott 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-7fs), Dylan Lalor 1-2, Ruaidhri Kavanagh 0-3, Rhys Murphy and Finnian O'Connor (f) 0-1 each.

SLIEVE BLOOM: Gavin Conroy; Rory Power, Shane Farrell, Gearoid Lowry; Evan Power, Sean Nolan, Tom Delaney; Connor Madden, Jake Collins; Kelvin Burke, Ciaran Conroy, Ben Conroy; Enda Conroy, Josh Holmes, Fergal Burke.

Subs: Ben Shore for E Conroy (45m), Tadgh Drea for Holmes (59m).

TRUMERA: Finnian O'Connor; Enda Bredin, Donnchadh Dowling, James Kirwan; Jack Mulhall, Darragh McSpadden, Dion O'Connor; Rhys Murphy, Caolon Murphy; Niall Sinnott, Dylan Lalor, Jack Coogan; Donnchadh O'Neil, Ruaidhri Kavanagh, Shane Callaghan.

Subs: Paddy Hosey for Kirwan (8m), Cathal Brophy for C Murphy (18m), Joe Coogan for O'Neil (37m), John O'Connor for Jack Coogan (50m).

Referee: John Lalor (Shanahoe)