Sunday morning saw Ahane welcome Caherline to Mackey Park to play the third round of the East Intermediate Hurling League. On a sunny, warm morning with the wind blowing in Caherline’s favour the game got underway.

Caherline got moving first with a point which Enna Kennedy responded to with a point for Ahane, he got a beautiful ball from Shane Hackett’s side-line cut. It was all Caherline for the next few minutes as they got scores from all over the park. Kevin Morrissey got on a ball and popped it over, our next two scores came from the stick of Conor Morrissey who scored both from frees, the second one was from a long range free against the breeze. The final score before the water break came from Kevin Morrissey as the ball was well worked through our lines. Water break 1st half score Ahane 0-05 Caherline 0-07. It was all Caherline for the next fifteen minutes as they scored seven unanswered points. They tried to get the ball into the back of the net, but James Hayes made some serious saves to ensure he kept a clean sheet for the game. Half time score Ahane 0-05 Caherline 0-14.

Second half started and it went much the same way as the closing quarter of the first half. We got some good ball into our forwards, but we just couldn’t capitalise on it and make it stick. Tom Doheny and Seamus Richardson got their names on the score sheet with two great points. Caherline took some beautiful scores in fairness and did a lot of good interlinking play throughout the game. Caherline got a point just as the referee called for the second water break and the score was Ahane 0-07 Caherline 0-20. Tempers started to rise in the final quarter which saw referee Kieran Flaherty dish out three yellows, two to Caherline and one for ourselves. Mark Hickey got a great point, along with Liam O’Mara who got one from a free as did Tom Doheny, but unfortunately it was too little too late, as we had left ourselves a mountain too big to climb. Caherline tacked on some more good scores and when the final whistle blew the score was Ahane 0-10 Caherline 0-25. A tough game from beginning to end for our lads in seriously warm conditions. Huge credit must go to our six backs who did trojan work throughout the sixty plus minutes and cleaned an ocean of ball.

Team:

J. Hayes; D. Hayes, M. Hayes ©, W. O’Leary, J, Barry, A. Carroll, B. Collins; S. Hackett, E. Kennedy; C. Morrissey, T. Doheny, L. O’Mara, M. Hickey, S. Richardson, K. Morrissey

Substitution:

A. Hackett (2nd ½ for B. Collins)