Banner GAA Ennis 0-10
Crusheen - Tubber Amalgamation 1-14
Depleted in numbers, our Minor hurlers battled courageoulsy and put up a strong willed resistance against Crusheen-Tubber in the first round of the Minor B Hurling Championship last night at the Banner. The Banner side were short a number of key players who were unable to field due to being County tied with the forthcoming Clare Minor Footballers(All Ireland Quarter final fixture), plus a small number of other players carrying injuries and away on summer holidays. Despite the depleted numbers and having to rely heavily on players from our under 16 ranks, the Banner lads went to to toe with their Crusheen-Tubber opponents. The home side started slowly and initially went 0-03 to 0-00 behind after 7 minutes. Depsite the slow start, the home Banner side got going, showed a huge work rate, and knocked over some excellent scores in particular from Dan Daly and Davy Keenan. The half-back line of Ian Molloy, Andala Flynn and Cian Haugh grew into the game and started to dominate that key line. By half-time only a single score separated the sides on a scoreline of 0-08 to 0-07, and at that stage this was very much a fifty:fifty game.
On the resumption Crusheen scored an early goal follwed by a brace of quick points in a 2 minute spell between 6th and 8th minutes. That short period proved the major turning point in the game. Despite the setback the Banner lads made excellent efforts to fight their way back into the game, Martin McCormack was dominating at midfield and Ronan Collins and Conor MacMahon tore open the middle of the visitors defence with pacy runs through the centre, but on more than one occasion the Crusheen last line of defence managed to deflect the goal attempts out for 65s. In the end Crusheen-Tubber, were deserving winners and congratulations to them, albeit that the scoreboard belies how close the game was up to the closing minutes. Crusheen's most prominent players on the night were Eanna MacMahon, Oisin O'Donnell and Diarmuid Mullins. For the Banner side, all those mentioned previously above had fine games, as did all the under 16 members of the team who were having their first outing at this age group. These young lads are to be commended for how they acquitted themselves on their first night at this grade and age. Our last line of defence were also strong on the night, with Aidan Jordan having a solid game between the posts, and Niall Walsh excellent at full back and dominating all through, despite the attempts of 3 different full forwards to penetrate that line.
the next fixture for the Minor Hurlers will be on August 3rd, versus Tulla. Hopefully our County players and injured players will be available to field. On the evidence of last night there is potential for progress with this panel.
The Banner team on the night were: 1. Aidan Jordan 2. Shane Casey 3. Niall Walsh 4. Joe Murphy 5. Cian Haugh 6. Andala Flynn 7. Ian Molloy 8. MArtin McCormack 9. Conor MAcMahon 10. Brian Moloney 11. Daniel Daly 12. Davy Keenan 13. Ronan Collins 14. Andy Shannon 15. Cian McNulty Subs: 17. Oisin MacMahon 18. Andrew Vaughan
