Eddie O'Donnell Monumental Works East U-21 Hurling Final
De La Salle 0-16 Ballygunner 1-12
Well done to our U-21 hurlers who won the Liam O’Donnell Memorial cup for the third successive year after a hard fought win over Ballygunner in Dunhill the Saturday before Christmas. Great credit must go to both sides for producing a cracking contest and there was great joy on our sides when we prevailed by the narrowest of margins in a game that could have gone either way. Team captain Shane Ryan was named the official man of the match and he got great support throughout from Shaun O’Brien with two excellent saves, Ryan Duke, Conor Giles-Doran, Mikey Costigan and in the second half Thomas Douglas, Eddie Meaney, Dylan Finn and Cormac McCann.
After the game Shane Ryan received the man of the match award from board chairman Michael Wadding and the Liam O’Donnell Memorial cup was then presented to Shane by both Michael Wadding and Eddie O’Donnell.
Congratulations to the panel and team mentors of Bryan Phelan, Ian Flynn, Stevie Brenner, Barry Murphy and Martin Doyle with thanks also to Joe Kenny who was on first aid duty. Commiserations also to a gallant Ballygunner side.
We opened the scoring with Brian Cunningham pointing inside forty seconds. Ballygunner equalised in the fourth minute but two minutes later Brian Cunningham pointed a free. Ballygunner then hit four points in a row to lead 0-5 to 0-2 after nine minutes. A foul on Evan Whelan saw Brian Cunningham narrow the gap in the 10th minute but Ballygunner replied two minutes later. Fouls on Thomas Douglas and Eddie Meaney resulted in three frees being converted by Brian Cunningham to make it 0-6 each after sixteen minutes. The scoring dried up in the second quarter with Ballygunner regaining the lead in the 18th minute and Brian Cunningham equalising in the 24th minute after a foul on Luke Flynn to leave it 0-7 each at the break.
There was an explosive start to the second half when Ballygunner goaled inside thirty five seconds and Thomas Douglas hitting an excellent point with only a minute played. Ballygunner pointed in the second minute before two fouls on Thomas Douglas were converted by Brian Cunningham and Mikey Costigan to make it 1-8 to 0-10 after five minutes. Eddie Meaney levelled matters two minutes later and after good play by Brian Cunningham and Dylan Finn, Mikey Costigan put us ahead in the in the 10th minute. Ballygunner fought back and two points had them ahead 1-10 to 0-12 midway through the half. Evan Whelan equalised in the 17th minute when his kicked effort carried over the crossbar and Cormac McCann put us back in front a minute later after good work by Dylan Finn. Ballygunner levelled matters again in the 23rd minute before Brian Cunningham restored our lead immediately after Dylan Finn was fouled. Good play by Cormac McCann resulted in Mikey Costigan extending our lead in the 29th minute but Ballygunner pointed a free in the 30th minute to make it a one point game. Ballygunner created one last chance in injury time but their attempt at goal was cleared and the final whistle sounded.
Scorers: Brian Cunningham 0-9 (0-8 frees), Mikey Costigan 0-3 (0-1 free), Thomas Douglas, Eddie Meaney, Evan Whelan and Cormac McCann 0-1 each.
Panel: Shaun O'Brien, Ryan Duke, Conor Giles-Doran, Adam Doyle, Mikey Costigan, Shane Ryan (captain), Lee Wall, Gavin Coppinger, Brian Cunningham, Dylan Finn, Evan Whelan, Sam Flynn, Luke Flynn, Thomas Douglas Eddie Meaney, Cormac McCann, James Stone, Conor Dunphy, Michael Roche, Ian Condon, Sean Power, Tom Crotty, Jack O'Donohue, Sean Carton, Jack McCarthy (injured) Jeff Cahill (injured).
Lotto
There was no winner of our Christmas Lotto jackpot last Monday night and it now stands at €4,000. The next draw takes place on Monday 15th January. Numbers drawn were 7, 8, 10, 18. There were fifteen winners of €20 each.
Derek Ryan, Lorraine Arrigan, Pascal Coady, Jens Kopke, Michael Walsh, Jim Keevers, Michael Greene, Danielle Flynn, Eileen McGrath, Joan Coady, Billy Flynn, Liam Flynn, Ann Stone, Izzy Ryan, Mark c/o Sandra Hearne.
