The Ahane Junior hurlers travelled to Caherelly on Sunday evening to take on Staker Wallace in the Woodlands House Hotel Junior A County Championship. Ahane had already played Monagea, Creocra/Manister and Claughaun and have come away with a draw and two losses. They hit the ground running on Sunday evening however as from a long ball in from the throw in, full forward James Hayes got a flick on it and the ball landed in the back of the net. Staker Wallace however got the following two points and that set the tone for the evening. Both sides were nip and tuck throughout the game and at stages it was score for score with the game being level on many an occasion. Ahane got some good scores from Kevin Morrissey, Andrew Shanahan who took some fine frees, Conor Heffernan and James Hayes. As the referee blew for the first water break the score stood as Ahane 1-05 Staker Wallace 1-06. Again Ahane levelled it but the relief was short lived as Staker Wallace fired over another point in response. The game was a seriously physical one and the referee had to go to his pocket on four occasions to show yellow cards to two players on both sides. Ahane fought hard for ball in the midfield and half forwards area but won nothing easy as the Staker Wallace defence made life very difficult for them. Ahane’s William O’Leary in goal had a stormer of a game and made four fantastic saves throughout the game. The teams went in at half time as Ahane 1-07 Staker Wallace 1-09.

The second half got underway and again it was more of the same. Some more good points from Andrew, Kevin, Adam Murrihy and Diarmuid McCarthy kept the Ahane scores ticking over. However there was a stage in the second half that Ahane were down 4 points. Every time Ahane levelled the game, Staker Wallace would get a score to ensure they remained the point ahead. However as the clocked ticked through injury time Adam slotted a free over the bar to level it and from the puck out Luke O’Sullivan put the balk over the bar so that Ahane were one up with time nearly up. But alas with the last puck of the ball Staker Wallace put the ball over the bar to make it a drawn game. The score at full time was Ahane 1-17 Staker Wallace 1-17. A seriously entertaining game of hurling from both sides.