BY JJ HURLEY

KINSALE and Belgooly will contest the final of the Ross Oil South East Hurling Championship following their hard-fought semi-final victories at the weekend.

Both games were played on Sunday and promised a feast of hurling – and they didn’t disappoint. First up in Minane Bridge, Kinsale faced Ballymartle in a pulsating encounter that delivered high drama and superb scores.

The tie will be long remembered for two outstanding second-half goals from Kinsale’s flying corner-forward Noah Ryan, whose brilliance inspired his side to victory as they netted four goals in total, winning 4-14 to 0-21.

Ryan opened Kinsale’s account with a classy early point, but it was the Riverstick men who made the brighter start, leading 0-8 to 0-3 after just 12 minutes.

Leo Hennessy, Ronan Sheehan, and Ken O’Callaghan were all on target as Ballymartle dictated the early exchanges, while Joe Butler and Senan Ahern were solid in defence for their respective teams.

A goal finally arrived on 20 minutes when Timmy Broderick finished off a fine move from a Brian O’Neill pass, but Ballymartle still held the advantage thanks to O’Callaghan’s flawless free-taking.

Right on the stroke of half time, Kearney struck for Kinsale’s second green flag, leaving the sides finely balanced at 2-7 to 0-13 at the interval.

An early second-half goal from Ryan stunned Ballymartle as he buried from close range, and minutes later Daniel O’Leary produced a superb save to deny Broderick.

By the 45th minute, Ballymartle had closed the gap to 3-10 to 0-17, with Hennessy, O’Leary and Sheehan leading their response.

However, with Michael Murphy accurate from placed balls, Kinsale pushed clear to 3-14 to 0-20 by the 54th minute before Ryan completed his brace to seal a four-goal performance and send Kinsale through to the final.

The second semi-final took place in Shanbally, where old rivals Belgooly and Valley Rovers renewed acquaintances in a game dominated by a stiff breeze rather than flowing hurling.

Valleys started strongly, racing into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead after nine minutes, with Joe Twohig accounting for three of those points.

Belgooly opened their account when Ryan Long forced a fine save from Matthew Kelleher, and Barry Dwyer sent over the resulting 65.

With the Innishannon side leading 0-7 to 0-4 after 22 minutes, a brilliant piece of skill from Eoin O’Donovan levelled the contest a minute later.

Two points apiece from Twohig and Dwyer left the sides deadlocked at 0-9 to 1-6 at half time.

Valleys again began the second half with purpose, as Kevin Duarte found the net, though Arron Lyons squandered a golden chance for another moments later.

The game swung decisively in Belgooly's way on 40 minutes when Kevin Canty saw red. Belgooly capitalised, with Long, O’Donovan and Dwyer all adding scores to push their side clear.

Valley Rovers could only muster three second-half points as Belgooly powered home to a 1-17 to 1-11 victory, booking their place in the South East final and setting up a mouth-watering all-blue clash with Kinsale.