Blondie on song as Sion reach last eight
Mount Sion's Ben Flanagan in possession ahead of Lismore's Basil Trigg during their JJ Kavanagh & Sons Co. Senior hurling championship clash played at Cappoquin Logistics Fraher Field on Saturday last. Photos: Sean Byrne
Eleven points from the consistently brilliant Martin ‘Blondie’ O’Neill (six from play) on Saturday night shot down injury-ravaged Lismore and fired Mount Sion into the quarter finals of the JJ Kavanagh & Sons Co. Senior hurling championship.
The number ten put on an exhibition of long-range shooting with the breeze and against the breeze. The 2009 Munster minor medallist has scored 1-32 in three championship starts this season. He has hit double figures in all three!
Alan Kirwan and Stephen Roche raised green flags in either half for Jamie O’Meara’s charges, while Austin Gleeson got a full game into his legs at centre back. ‘Aussie’ shot two huge points but had his hands full with county team mate Jack Prendergast.
Lismore took the field without two of their top forwards in Maurice Shanahan and Oisín O’Gorman. Shanahan remains sidelined with a hand injury, while O’Gorman had his arm in a sling. Jack Prendergast was heroic in defeat for the black and amber. He never stopped running at the Sion defence and racked up eight points. Joe O’Keeffe, David Prendergast and Finbar Reaney also had their moments. A final-day win against Dungarvan will put them through to the quarters as well.
Lismore enjoyed an early four-point lead. In the fourth minute, Ben O’Sullivan attracted two Sion defenders and offloaded to the unmarked Jamie O’Keeffe, who finished to the net. His brother Joe added a white flag to make it 1-3 to 0-2.
On nine minutes, Martin O’Neill mishit a free, Lismore goalkeeper Fionn O’Gorman miscontrolled the ball, and the alert Alan Kirwan batted home (1-4 to 1-3). O’Neill didn’t mishit his next shot. He was on the back foot, up against the stand sideline, but somehow flung the ball over the shoulder and over the bar off his left side. Score of the weekend. Even the linesman was impressed!
Lismore suffered another injury blow on seventeen minutes when Paudi Prendergast walked gingerly off the field. Despite the best efforts of corner back David Prendergast, O’Neill, Stephen Roche, and Evan Curran extended the Sion advantage to eight.
Lismore had a lucky escape three minutes before half-time when Gavin Power, PJ Fanning and Roche worked the ball through to Kirwan in front of goal. The sliotar slipped out of his grasp just as he was about to pull the trigger. Lismore replied with a Jack Prendergast free and a Charlie Lineen point from play, but O’Neill, who else, had the final say to leave it 1-13 to 1-7 at the break. He finished the half with eight points (five from play).
On the resumption, a wind-assisted Ian O’Regan puckout went all the way through to Adam Regan, but Fionn O’Gorman raced off his line to avert the danger. Austin Gleeson then opened the shoulders and struck a monster point from his own 45. Lismore sub Dan Shanahan had a perfect view of it from the sideline.
Two trademark Jack Prendergast solo runs yielded two Lismore points as well as a yellow card for Sion defender Mikey Daykin (1-15 to 1-10). O’Neill nailed his ninth of the night from 70 metres. Another ever-reliable Sion performer, Ian O’Regan, then blocked a low shot from Joe O’Keeffe. PJ Fanning pointed from his own 65 just moments later. On 43 minutes, Adam Regan won a turnover high up the field and fed Stephen Roche, who flicked the sliotar past the onrushing O’Gorman (2-16 to 1-10). ‘Midget’ took a bang in the process but was fit to continue.
Despite the big deficit, Prendergast continued to ask questions of the Sion defence. Luke O’Brien was yellow carded for a loose challenge on the county man. Prendergast wandered into full forward and Gleeson followed him. Two Prendergast frees and two Joe O’Keeffe points from play reduced the arrears to five and gave the Lismore subs hope in the stand. A Jamie Meaney point, set up by marauding wing back O’Brien, interrupted that purple patch. Meaney has scored 3-4 from play this season but still isn’t a regular starter. Two O’Neill frees put the issue beyond doubt.
Prendergast never threw in the towel. He took on Gleeson and pointed. A marvellous catch from Iarlaith Daly led to another for the man in the green helmet. O’Regan saved a late bullet from Ben O’Sullivan as Sion clinched their fourth straight win.
Martin O’Neill 0-11 (5fs), Stephen Roche 1-2, Alan Kirwan 1-0, Jamie Meaney, Austin Gleeson 0-2 each, PJ Fanning, Evan Curran, Luke O’Brien, Jamie Gleeson 0-1 each.
Jack Prendergast 0-8 (5fs), Jamie O’Keeffe 1-0, Joe O’Keeffe 0-3, Finbar Reaney, Ben Cummins (2fs) 0-2 each, Charlie Lineen 0-1.
Ian O’Regan; Ben Flanagan, Stephen O’Neill, Mikey Daykin; Martin F O’Neill, Austin Gleeson, Luke O’Brien; PJ Fanning, Gavin Power; Martin O’Neill, Stephen Roche, Evan Curran; Adam Regan, Jamie Gleeson, Alan Kirwan.
Jamie Meaney for Kirwan (45), John Kennedy for Power (49), Emmanuel Adebayo for Curran (55), Jack Meaney for Regan (55), Ben Frisby for Martin F O’Neill (60).
Fionn O’Gorman; Connor Howard, Iarlaith Daly, David Prendergast; Carthach Daly, Paudi Prendergast, Finbar Reaney; Jack Prendergast, Joe O’Keeffe; Aaron Whelan, Ben Cummins, Tadhg Duffin; Charlie Lineen, Jamie O’Keeffe, Ben O’Sullivan.
Basil Trigg for Paudi Prendergast (17), Paul Kearney for Jamie O’Keeffe (HT), Joe Lenihan for Whelan (Blood, 49-50).
Anthony Fitzgerald
Sion’s deadly marksman Martin O’Neill.
Jamie Meaney’s first point put a stop to the Lismore comeback.
The bumpy Fraher Field surface.
Sion can rest players against Fourmilewater, while Lismore can secure a last-eight spot with victory over Dungarvan.
