By RONAN FAGAN: Naomh Éanna 4-17, St. Anne’s 3-11
A strong surge either side of half-time saw 2015 intermediate champions Naomh Éanna secure passage to a second successive Pettitt’s county senior hurling championship semi-final at the expense of reigning intermediate winners St. Anne’s at Innovate Wexford Park on Sunday afternoon.
St. Anne’s, who were runners-up in the replayed senior final of 2014, appeared to be gaining the upper-hand when leading by 1-9 to 1-5 on 29 minutes. But either side of half-time Gorey transformed matters decisively when hitting 1-5 without reply to surge ahead by 2-10 to 1-9 and really they never looked back after that.
A slow-burning affair saw the sides share the first four points before St. Anne’s gained the first breakthrough in the form of a 15th-minute goal, when Redmond Barry and Liam Rochford combined before feeding Liam Óg McGovern who found the Clonard-end net (1-2 to 0-2).
Gorey were afflicted by some poor finishing while McGovern and Diarmuid O’Keeffe stretched the margin to 1-4 to 0-3 before Naomh Éanna struck back with an 18th-minute Conor McDonald goal – the Wexford star being fed by Gary Molloy before netting from the right edge of the square.
The gap remained at the minimum after an exchange of scores (1-6 to 1-5) before a succession of delightful Anne’s points from Mikey Fogarty, Mark Furlong and ‘Dee’ O’Keeffe opened-up a 1-9 to 1-5 divide on 29 minutes.
But Naomh Éanna began to turn the tide when Pádraig Doyle (free) and Conor ‘Mac’ got them back to within 1-9 to 1-7 at half-time.
And the decisive shift in momentum continued on the resumption as Gorey bridged the gap through Charlie McGuckin and Conor McDonald points, before McDonald hammered to the net in the 34th-minute to complete the transformation from a four-point deficit to leaders by 2-9 to 1-9.
The north county men maintained the thrust as they forge clear by 2-15 to 1-11 on 49 minutes as Cathal Dunbar (2, including a line-ball), Podge Doyle (2 dead-balls), Conor McDonald and Aodhán Doyle extended the drive.
It got even better for Gorey on 50 minutes when, just after their goalie Barry Kinsella and no.7 Eoin Conroy had somehow kept their net intact, the winners inflicted serious damage at the other end, when good work by Charlie McGuckin eventually led to Podge Doyle finding the net for a 3-15 to 1-11 lead.
St. Anne’s are made of stern stuff though and they pulled it back to 3-15 to 2-11 on 52 minutes when the eagle-eyed umpires observed that Mark Furlong’s free had in fact crossed the goal-line before it was desperately cleared.
The Rathangan-men simply refused to go away and, after Diarmuid O’Keeffe had gone agonisingly close with a goaling effort, the Sky Blues gained further hope when an Aidan Rochford pass found Redmond Barry at the far post from where ‘Red’ popped to the net to close the margin to 3-17 to 3-11 on 59 minutes.
But the issue was put to rest a minute into added-time when superb work by Jack Cullen culminated in Cathal Dunbar goaling to secure a 4-17 to 3-11 victory for Gorey and passage to back-to-back senior hurling semi-finals for the intermediate champions of 2015.
Naomh Éanna – Barry Kinsella, Pedro Travers, Brendan Travers, Eoin Molloy, Jack Cullen, Seán Doyle, Eoin Conroy (0-1), Aodhán Doyle (0-1), Gary Molloy, Charlie McGuckin (0-1), Pádraig Doyle (1-5, 0-3 frees, 0-1 ’65), Darragh Hughes, David O’Brien, Conor McDonald (2-6), Cathal Dunbar (1-3, 0-1 line-ball).
Subs: William Cullen for David O’Brien; Jack Cushe for Darragh Hughes.
St. Anne’s – Paul Brennan, Kenny Clooney, Tomás Cullen, Páraic O’Keeffe, Seamus Mythen, Aidan Rochford, Cian McGovern, Mark Furlong (1-3, 1-2 frees), Michael Fogarty (0-1), Diarmuid O’Keeffe (0-3), Liam Rochford (0-1), Jonathan Fogarty (0-1), Redmond Barry (1-1), Liam Óg McGovern (1-1), Andy Kennedy.
Subs: Kevin Whelan for Andy Kennedy; Finn O’Driscoll for Michael Fogarty.
Referee – David O’Leary (Rathnure).
