Free-scoring Nemo hold off Belgooly comeback

Nemo Rangers 3-21

Belgooly 4-13

JJ HURLEY REPORTS

RUTHLESS Nemo Rangers were too strong for gritty Belgooly in the quarter-final of the county junior A hurling championship at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night.

Despite a quartet of second-half goals for the South East champions, in truth Nemo never looked like being in serious trouble. Indeed, had Nemo not struck nine first-half wides, they could have been out of sight. Instead, they had two first-half goals from Ronan Dalton and the impressive Shane Horgan.

Belgooly had to depend on their ace marksman Barry Dwyer to keep them in the game with four first-half frees, aided by points from Eddie Corkery and Ryan Long.

Nemo, up the other end, were adding to their tally with points, not just from Horgan's dead-ball accuracy but also scores from Dalton, Artjoms Petrovs, Peter Collins and Robert Cripps as they led by 2-9 to 0-7 at the interval.

A goal from the lively Ryan Long on 33 minutes suggested the beginnings of a Belgooly revival, but points from Horgan, Cripps and Artjoms Petrovs looked like smothering the potential comeback.

Belgooly were not going away likely, as Conor O'Donovan and Ryan Long rattled the Seandún champion's net in a five-minute period, punctuated by a Gearoid O'Riordan point as only two scores separated the teams.

Nemo didn't panic as following another free from Horgan, Peter Collins scored a superb individual goal on 47 minutes to put distance between the sides.

From there to the finish, Nemo outscored Belgooly by six points to three. Belgooly never threw in the towel. Kevin Fitzgerald was rewarded with a goal from a line ball in the dying moments but the city outfit deservedly advanced to the semi-final.

Scorers

Nemo Rangers: Shane Horgan 1-11 (7f, 2 65s); Ronan Dalton, Peter Collins 1-1 each;, Artjoms Petrovs 0-3; Barry Cripps 0-2; Gavin Barrett, Eric Dilloughery, Conor Horgan 0-1 each.

Belgooly: Ryan Long 2-1; Barry Dwyer 0-5 (4f); Eoin O'Donovan 0-4 (3f); Kevin Fitzgerald, Conor O'Donovan 1-0 each; Eddie Corkery, Gearoid O'Riordan 0-1.

Nemo Rangers: J Masters; S O'Dwyer, P Morgan, B Murphy; B O'Neill, K O'Donovan, J Coogan; P Collins, S Cronin; M Cronin, B Cripps, S Horgan; A Petrovs, R Dalton, J Kearney.

Subs: S Joyce for M Cronin (24), C Horgan for A Petrovs (48), E Dilloughery for S Cronin (50), G Barrett for J Kearney (56).

Belgooly: R Dwyer; C O'Sullivan, N O’Sullivan, J O'Sullivan; L Walsh,T O'Donovan, D Walsh; S Kiely, G O'Riordan; B Dwyer, E O'Donovan, Conor O'Donovan, K Fitzgerald, R Long, E Corkery.

Subs: F Walsh for B Dwyer (51, inj), E Dwyer for J Long (59, inj).

Referee: A O'Regan.