Graigue Ballycallan and Gowran played an exciting, skillful brand of hurling in the Junior A North semi-final, on Saturday evening last in St. John’s Park. GBC were flying from the throw in and led by nine points to two midway through the first half, a long-range effort from Shane Butler being the pick of the scores.
In the 20th minute a free from Adrian Bourke evaded the Gowran goalkeeper to add to their woes. Five minutes later, Gowran won a GBC puck out and their midfielder sprinted through the GBC defence before blasting the ball to the net. Just before half-time, Willie O’Connor delivered a deft pass to Conor Murphy, who finished well to the net. The half-time score was GBC 2-11, Gowran 1-2.
Gowran’s half time talk must have been an epic, because they were like a new team in the second half. A well worked goal, finished by Charlie Carter sparked a flurry of five unanswered points from Gowran. Fifteen minutes in, Gearoid Murphy stemmed the tide with GBC’s first point of the second half. DJ Carey pointed three frees but Conor Murphy added four points from play and PJ Pollard brought off a point blank save. Gowran came to within four points of GBC on two occasions. The final score was GBC 2-17, Gowran 2-11. This was a good team effort overall, with Dermot Ryall, Adrian Bourke, Conor Murphy and Willie O’Connor standing out for GBC when the going got tough.
GBC: PJ Pollard, M Fitzpatrick, E Corcoran, J Cleere, A Ryan, D Ryall, S Butler (0-1), A Bourke (1-0), P Kennedy, G Murphy (0-2), J Dermody (0-1), C Murphy (1-9 4f), J Smith (0-1), G Cleere, W O’Connor (0-2).
Subs: P Cahill, J Purcell, E Egan (0-1).