Final quarter goals decide tie in Ardclough's favour
Ardclough's Cillian Burke holds off the challenge of Coill Dubh's Ross Carew Photo: Sean Brilly
THIRTEEN-time county champions Ardclough gained revenge for last year’s late smash-and-grab raid by Coill Dubh in the equivalent fixture as they opened their Group B campaign in the UPMC Senior A Hurling Championship with a richly deserved eight-point win at Manguard Park on Saturday.
That win by Coill Dubh a year ago helped propel them to a county final but their chances of even reaching the knockout stages in 2024 are in severe peril after Ardclough turned the tables on this occasion.
Goals win games they say and the Ardclough men struck at three crucial times through Eoghan Walsh, Tim Ryan and outstanding full-forward Cillian Burke to keep Coill Dubh at arm’s length.
Ryan’s in particular came at a pivotal point, just past the three-quarter mark. Coill Dubh had just moved within a point thanks to a Mark Delaney ’65 when Ryan picked up possession from the subsequent puckout and drove through the heart of the defence to bury the game’s crucial score. Coill Dubh never got within three points thereafter.
Seán Whelan and Burke registered the opening two points of the game though Walsh might have found the net in between those scores, his effort unfortunately hitting his own man, David Collins.
Delaney, Coill Dubh’s only first half scorer, with all of those from frees, replied with his first after five minutes but Walsh made amends for his earlier miss a minute later when the bustled through a couple of challenges and finished adroitly to Owen Lenehan’s net for the opening goal.
It was relatively even over the rest of the opening quarter, Delaney’s four frees keeping Coill Dubh in touch with Burke and a Whelan free seeing Ardclough lead 1-4 to 0-5.
Playing with the strengthening wind, Ardclough made the elements pay with five points in a row in the second quarter. Whelan landed a free from his own half and Matthew Stapleton scored superbly off his left side before Burke cleared the crossbar from a low drive.
Whelan’s free and another Stapleton score made it 1-9 to 0-5 before Delaney’s sixth free of the half gave Coill Dubh something to cling to at the interval. Half-Time: Ardclough 1-9 Coill Dubh 0-6.
With the wind now their friend, Coill Dubh set about reeling in their opponents, but only after Lenehan made a superb save from Burke’s goalbound effort. Ryan Casey landed Coill Dubh’s first score from play after 33 minutes and Delaney fired over a free from 60 metres.
Ardclough countered those scores with two of their own, from a Whelan free and another beauty from Burke. But it was ‘game on’ after 38 minutes when Casey fielded a long direct ball, rounded his marker and beat Martin Fitzgerald from close range to make it a three-point game.
A Delaney free and a deserved score for the lively Enda Keane brought the gap to the minimum after 42 minutes. It was championship fare now and Whelan and Delaney (from a ’65) exchanged points to make it 1-12 to 1-11 in favour of Ardclough.
Then came Ryan’s intervention straight from the puckout though, giving Cloughs breathing space of four points and Whelan’s free extended that lead by a further point straight away.
Delaney did hit back with two quickfire points from play but at times you felt he was a lone soldier, and his team wouldn’t score again.
After a Whelan free dropped short, Burke was on hand to snap up a point again for Ardclough and the full-forward put the game to bed with three minutes remaining. He miscued his initial shot, which Lenehan kept out, but Burke bundled home the loose ball.
Whelan’s free brought his tally to eight and rounded off his team’s deserved win by the same margin.
