Battling Barryroe hurlers now in must-win territory

Milford 2-20
Barryroe 2-17

NOEL HORGAN REPORTS
TRAILING by nine points, 2-19 to 1-13, with under five minutes of regulation time remaining, Barryroe appeared to be facing a demoralising defeat in the recent Co-op Superstores county premier junior hurling championship encounter with Milford at Coachford.
Their never-say-die attitude enabled them to stage a commendable rally that brought them close to garnering a share of the spoils, however, although it would have been rough justice on Milford had they been denied the win.
While Barryroe manager Dan Murphy agreed Milford were the better team on the day, he had mixed feelings on how it all unfolded.
‘It’s a disappointing defeat. The scoreline probably flatters us, but we’ll take a three-point loss before an eight- or nine-point loss any day of the week,’ he remarked, aware that score difference could come into play to determine the final placings in the four-team group.
‘Without a bit of fight and guts, you won’t get anywhere. In fairness, we showed plenty of that today.
‘We’re still in with a chance of qualifying (for the knock-out stages), so we’ll have to go out and beat Kilbrittain in our next game and see where it gets us,’ said Murphy, adding he’s satisfied his players will ‘keep their heads up’ in the wake of this setback.
After a sluggish start, the Carbery side struck a purple patch midway through the first half, with goalkeeper Billy O’Donovan blasting home a penalty won by full-forward Robbie Kiely.
That was followed by points from Adam McSweeney and Kiely, allowing them to lead by 1-5 to 0-5 with 21 minutes gone.

Barryroe’s Sean O’Riordan has possession with team-mate Patrick Moloney offering support against Milford.
(Photos: Martin Walsh)

Four minutes later, however, Milford regained the initiative when their key attacker Henry O’Gorman goaled to make it 1-6 to 1-5. With O’Gorman and full-forward Tadgh O’Flynn causing massive problems for the Barryroe rearguard, Milford consolidated their advantage to finish the first half 2-9 to 1-6 to the good.
Despite the commendable efforts of James Moloney, Michael Ryan and Sean O’Riordan at the back, and Ryan O’Donovan and the excellent Adam McSweeney up front, Barryroe struggled to make inroads on the deficit for much of the second half.
Their fate looked sealed after Milford reeled off three points on the trot to go 2-18 to 1-12 approaching the last ten minutes.
The Avondhu side remained in the driving seat until gutsy Barryroe made their last-ditch bid to pull the game out of the fire. It yielded points from McSweeney, Ryan O’Donovan and effective substitute Brian O’Donovan, to which David Kiely added a goal four minutes into stoppage time.
That brought them back within striking range, and they mounted one more promising, if unproductive, raid before the final whistle.

Scorers - Milford: H O’Gorman 1-9 (6f); T O’Flynn 1-1; J O’Connor 0-4; E Dillon, C O’Gorman, M O’Flynn, A Watson, S O’Connell (f), B Murphy 0-1 each.

Barryroe: A McSweeney 0-11 (6f, 2 65’s); Billy O’Donovan (penalty), D Kiely 1-0 each; Brian O’Donovan, R O’Donovan 0-2 each; J Moloney, R Kiely 0-1 each.
Milford: M Cremin; S O’Flynn, C O’Sullivan, R O’Gorman; K O’Flynn, E Dillon, D Hannigan; M O’Flynn, P Watson; J O’Connor, C O’Gorman, J O’Flynn; A Watson, T O’Flynn, H O’Gorman.

Subs: B Murphy for C O’Gorman (inj, 28), S O’Connell for H O’Gorman (52), T Curran for T O’Flynn (55), P O’Flynn for P Watson (61).
Barryroe: Billy O’Donovan; D O’Sullivan, J O’Brien, M Ryan; S O’Riordan, J Moloney, D Murphy; C Sheehy, P Moloney; D Kiely, R Kiely, R O’Donovan; A McSweeney, D O’Driscoll, T O’Buachalla.

Subs: T Kearney for P Moloney (42), Brian O’Donovan for O’Buachalla (42), J Murphy for Sheehy (49), C Madden for O’Brien (56), D McCarthy for O’Driscoll (58).
Referee: J Horgan (Gleann na Laoi).