Rovers too good for Youghal in Under 21 ‘B’ Contest in Killeagh

By Derek Kiely

East Cork Under 21 ‘B’ Hurling Championship
Russell Rovers 4-11 Youghal 1-14
RUSSELL ROVERS made sure of their place in the next round of the East Cork Under 21 ‘B’ Hurling Championship, with a resounding win over Youghal in Killeagh last Tuesday night and even though they trailed by two points at the short whistle, they looked to have plenty in the locker going into the second period.
Youghal started impressively with an opening score from Keith McCarthy from play on the 2nd minute and Youghal added a further two early points without reply off the sticks of James O’Mahony and Leo Lyons-Troy respectively.
It took Rovers 5 minutes to register a score when the very impressive Daniel Moynihan struck over from play on the right wing 35 meters out.
Youghal replied brilliantly with a Alan Frahill-O’Connor ‘65’ on the 7th minute and a James O’Mahony free on the 9th minute.
Rovers looking rather shaky at this point began to re-group and up popped Shane Fleming with a super score from play on the 11th minute to start the Russell Rovers revival.
O’Mahony slotted a free for Youghal on the 21st minute to restore the 4 point lead, but back came Rovers through Daniel Moynihan and Fleming raising white flags.
Youghal through long range expert Andrew Curtin were three ahead after 21 minutes when he slotted over a monster strike, but Rovers were now awake and two scores from play off Moynihan within a minute put just one point between the sides with 7 minutes of the first half remaining.
To their credit Youghal rallied again with David O’Mahony scoring from play and Curtin sending over another long range effort to re-establish a three point advantage, but two late first half pointed free’s from Moynihan left just one point between them again, before James O’Mahony pointed for Youghal on the 34th minute of the first half.
The second half got off to a flier for Rovers when just two minutes in Rovers wing forward Kevin O’Brien, playing in the corner finished off a great move with the matches opening goal.
Youghal responded with a free from Curtin to level matters, but Russell Rovers Kevin Tattan re-established the lead with a point from play.
Curtin again showed tremendous accuracy on the 40th minute when he sent over a long range free to level the game again. Moynihan pointed from a placed ball for Rovers, only for O’Mahony to respond with a pointed free of his own seconds later, making it a level game yet again.
Then the game really swung the way of the men from Shanagarry with a goal on the 41st minute from Shane Fleming and even though Youghal did respond with a score from Leo Lyons-Troy two minutes later it wasn’t enough to stop Rovers who dominated the rest of proceedings with a scoring spree of two goals, one from James Moynihan and the other from Kevin Ivors, plus a point on the 62nd minute from play off Eoin McGrath.
Youghal did get a late consolation goal from Aaron Kenny, but it was too little too late and a devastating 12 minute period at the end of the game was enough to see Russell Rovers through to the next round.
Scorers for Russell Rovers: D Moynihan 0-7 (3f) S Fleming 1-2, K O’Brien, K Ivors and J Moynihan 1-0 each, K Tattan and E McGrath 0-1 each.
Scorers for Youghal: J O’Mahony 0-5 (3f) A Curtin 0-4 (3f) A Kenny 1-0, L Lyons 0-2, A Frahill-O’Connor 0-1 (65) K McCarthy and David O’Mahony 0-1 each.
RUSSELL ROVERS: A Hartnett; J Ahern, D Whelan, P Lane; R Walsh, T Crowley (Cpt) S Fleming; D Moynihan, D O’Brien; K O’Brien, E McGrath; K Ivors, J Moynihan, A Beausang.
YOUGHAL: s Spillane (Cpt); L McCarthy, Andrew Curtin, D Scanlon; Aidan Curtin, A Kenny, E Flavin; D Power, A Frahill-O’Connor; L Lyons-Troy, R Desmond, D Mulcahy; K McCarthy, J O’Mahony, D O’Mahony.
Referee: David O’Hanlon (Aghada)