Drumcullen 2-14 ...... Ballyskenagh 1-10
With all hopes of making the knockout stages of the 2006 senior hurling championship already extinguished, a loss to Drumcullen in the final game of the group put Ballyskenagh into the relegation zone. Already minus the services of Barry Keeshan, Derek Middleton, Mark Kirwan, Bill Lalor and Ronan Middleton, and with Eoghan Franks away for the summer, Ballyskenagh's run of bad luck continued when Morgan Lalor injured his ankle just a couple of hours before the game.
Ballyskenagh took the lead with an Alan Middleton point inside the first minute, with Drumcullen equalising soon afterwards. A Drumcullen free in the 5th minute gave them the edge before Mick O'Hara equalised from a placed ball less than a minute later. Five minutes later David Carney edged Skenagh in front, but the next six scores came from Drumcullen (one from a free), to give them a 0-8 to 0-3 lead by the 20th minute. Alan Middleton and Mick O'Hara (free) reduced the deficit to three but with just two minutes remaining in the half Drumcullen had it back to five again at 0-10 to 0-5. A Drumcullen goal from a free in the 29th minute gave them a sizeable lead at half time at 1-10 to 0-5.
With Alan Franks moving out the field and Tom O'Toole taking up goal keeping duties for the second half, Tadhg Maher raised the white flag for Skenagh four minutes after the resumption. A John Dooley free soon afterwards had the deficit at six. A second free was controversially judged to be wide before a David Carney pass found John Dooley in front of goal and he duly drilled the ball to the back of the net to bring the gap back to three in the 9th minute. Skenagh were now getting on top of their opponents and another Dooley free had the gap back to just two points with ten minutes gone on the clock. Three minutes later a Drumcullen free had the gap back to three. Less than a minute later, Tom O'Toole saved well, but Drumcullen pounced on the rebound and beat him on the second attempt to put them back in the driving seat at 2-11 to 1-8. Just a minute later, at the mid point of the half, Brendan Murphy was very unlucky when his shot rebounded off the post, but all was not lost as Alan Middleton pointed the rebound. Over the next five minutes Drumcullen widened the gap to eight with a brace of points from play and one from a free to give them a 2-14 to 1-9 lead. Skenagh's final score of the game came from the stick of Brendan Murphy in the closing minute to leave the final score at 2-14 to 1-10 and Skenagh facing a battle to maintain their senior status for next year.
Team and Scorers: Alan Franks; Eoin Maher, Cathal Murphy, David McLoughlin;
Timmy Hennessy, Mick O'Hara (0-2 frees), Daryl Carney; Alan Middleton (0-3),
Brendan Murphy (0-1); Tadhg Maher (0-1), Noel Murphy, Morgan Lalor; Ciaran Kirwan,
David Carney (0-1), John Dooley (1-2, 0-2 frees)
Subs: Olly Ryan for Morgan Lalor (12 mins), Tom O'Toole for Olly Ryan (half
time)
Referee: Jack Delaney
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