Colasite Iosagain Portarlington 2-12 Mountmellick Community School 1-10
Colleges North Leinster Junior ‘D’ Hurling Championship Final
Colaiste Iosagain Portarlington were crowned Nort Leinster Junior D Hurling champions in the Centre of Excellence this morning.
In atrocious conditions, they edged out fellow Laois side Mountmellick Community School in the final.
Colaiste Iosagain, managed by Portlaoise’s Cormac Rigney and Tullamore’s Kevin Mann, are comprised entirely of players from Portarlington and Gracefield.
While there were many standout performers in what was a very entertaining game played in driving wind and rain, Sean Moran topped the biling.
Better known for his footballing exploits, Moran showed he is very accomplished with the smaller ball as he finished with 1-10.
Mountmellick CS had the wind in the first half and used it well as the accuracy of Scott Kelly gave them an early lead.
Both keepers were busy early on too as Joe Conroy for Mountmellick and Jamie Gallagher for Iosagain made great saves.
But the game’s first goal did arrive after 10 minutes when Oisin McRedmond’s shot was saved but Cillian Dunne was on hand to smash home the rebound for Mountmellick.
That made it 1-3 to 0-1 but two scores from Moran left three between them at the midpoint of the half.
Ryan Scully joined him on the scoresheet and Colaiste Iosagain actually took the lead with 24 minutes played.
Some excellent work from Ciaran Connell saw the ball come to Moran and he raced clear before finding the top corner of the net.
But Mountmellick finished the half strongly as Scott Kelly added three more frees and Charlie McEvoy also pointed to leave them 1-9 to 1-6 ahead at the break.
Colaiste Iosagain now had the wind though as three scores from Moran in the first 11 minutes of the new half drew them level.
And then as we entered the final quarter, the victors took a lead they would never relinquish.
Captain Adam Keogh sent in a long ball from a free and it eventually came to sub Gearoid McCann who made no mistake with a devastating finish to the net.
Mountmellick hit back with a score from sub Brian Kelly but that would prove to be their only point in the second half.
Moran and Keogh added points in the time that remained as Colaiste Iosagain were crowned champions with five points to spare.
SCORERS – Colaiste Iosagain: Sean Moran 1-10 (0-7 frees), Gearoid McCann 1-0, Ryan Scully and Adam Keogh 0-1 each Mountmellick CS: Scott Kelly 0-8 (six frees), Cillian Dunne 1-0, Brian Kelly and Charlie McEvoy 0-1 each
COLAISTE IOSAGAIN: Jamie Gallagher (Gracefield); Sean Ridgeway (Gracefield), Josh Dunne (Gracefield), Finn Ryan (Gracefield); Conor Moran (Portarlington), Adam Keogh (Gracefield), Peter Fanning (Gracefield); Darragh Doyle (Portarlington), Ciaran Connell (Portarlington); Sean Moran (Portarlington), Cillin Hoey (Portarlington), James Conroy (Gracefield); Bobby McLoughlin (Gracefield), Ryan Scully (Gracefield), Kolbe Wrafter (Portarlington). Subs: Gearoid McCann for Wrafter (25), James Saunders (Portarlington) for Conroy (57, inj), Sean Byrne (Gracefield) for McLoughlin (59)
MOUNTMELLICK CS: Joe Conroy (Rosenallis); Jack Culleton (Rosenallis), Eoghan Lalor (Mountmellick), JJ Reddin (Trumera); Luke Kelly (Rosenallis), Oisin Dunne (Rosenallis), Rian Weston (Mountmellick); Tadhg Hughes (Rosenallis), Frankie Delaney (Emo); Scott Kelly (Rosenallis), Shay McEvoy (Rosenallis), Riain Guinan (Mountmellick); Charlie McEvoy (Mountmellick), Oisin McRedmond (Portlaoise), Cillian Dunne (Rosenallis). Subs: Brian Kelly (Rosenallis) for C McEvoy (42), Oran Masterson (Portlaoise) for Guinan (55)
REFEREE: Ronan Devaney (Camross)
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