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Friday, September 12, 2003
GAA: County Senior Hurling Championship
By Phil Fanning
Stradbally 1-13 Portlaw 0-12
AS PORTLAW exited the senior hurling championship for the relegation play offs, county senior football champions Stradbally confirmed their dual status as a hurling club with this impressive performance at Kill on Saturday last.
For Portlaw, this defeat was a bitter disappointment as it dashed any hopes of a championship challenge by one of Waterford’s great traditional hurling clubs.
Now the task is to retain senior status and the signs are that this will not be an easy task. On the other hand Stradbally’s win was the result of a big disappointment on their first round display when going down to Ballyduff Upper. Having already qualified for the football semi-finals the villagers have been able to concentrate on their hurling and with a good array of young players who have made their mark on U21 and senior panels in recent years they have the nucleus of a useful hurling side.
LITTLE TO CHOOSE
Stradbally had the aid of the breeze in the first half and after Portlaw’s John Hartley and Stradbally’s Trevor Curran exchanged early points from frees it was score for score between two evenly matches teams throughout the first half. In that period the teams were level on no fewer than six occasions.
Portlaw opened up a 0-8 to 0-6 lead with just four minutes remaining in the half and looked set to go in at the break in a strong position. It was Stradbally, however, who upped their game considerably in the remaining minutes of the first period.
Firstly Michael Walsh made a driving run from midfield through the centre of the Portlaw defence before unleashing a powerful shot on goal. Portlaw’s Noel Kelly was equal to the challenge, however, as he brought off a spectacular diving save to deflect the ball over their crossbar for a point.
A minute later Trevor Curran had the sides level from a free and in the 30th minute a through ball from John Hearn was gathered by Niall Curran. In an impressive show of pace and skill he rounded his marker and went on to smash the ball to the corner of the net.
The half time whistle sounded and Stradbally led by 1-8 to 0-8.
STRABALLY ASSERT DOMINANCE
On the turnover the momentum was maintained as, despite playing into the breeze, Stradbally increased their lead. A point from a Trevor Curran free after three minutes was followed by another from play by the same player as Michael Walsh dominated in midfield.
Freddie Kelly pulled back a point for Portlaw before Trevor Curran, again, and Eddie Rockett exchanged further points.
Stradbally were now firmly in control as Trevor Curran pointed following a heavy tackle on Niall Curran and a 48th minute point by Trevor Costelloe put his side six points clear. With the game slipping away Portlaw rallied strongly as Freddie Kelly pointed another free. The last ten minutes saw Stradbally defending tenaciously under pressure, while looking dangerous on the break forward. The only score in that period was a point from Portlaw’s Billy Laffan in the 57th minute that left four points between the teams. Portlaw’s last chance of pulling the game out of the fire came in the 59th minute but Kelly’s shot on goal from a 20- metre free was saved and cleared and when the final whistle sounded Stradbally were back on the attack.
BALLYDUFF NEXT FOR STRADBALLY
This game will certainly bring Stradbally on as they face into the next round against Ballyduff Upper. In John Coffey they had the outstanding defender on the field with excellent support from John Halpin at fullback and Kevin Coffey in the centre, Get Power hit some fine points from midfield and Michael Walsh was always prominent in attack and midfield. Up front Trevor and Niall Curran posed big problems for the Portlaw defence.
In a Portlaw side that battled to the end, Noel Kelly could not be faulted in goal, while Andrew Kirwan and Michael Donnelly put in big efforts. In midfield John Hartley and Mark Power showed up prominently but despite the best efforts of Eddie Rockett and Billy Laffan (later in defence) they simply lacked the firepower with nine of their points coming from frees.
Scorers: Stradbally: T. Curran 0-7, N. Curran 1-2, G. Power 0-2, M. Walsh 0-1, T. Costelloe 0-1. Portlaw: F. Kelly 0-6, J. Hartley 0-3, M. Power 0-2, B. Laffan 0-1, E. Rockett 0-1. STRADBALLY: L. O’Brien, K. Coffey, J. Halpin, O. Costelloe, J. Coffey, K. Coffey, T. Walsh, G. Power, T. Costelloe, J. Hearn, M. Walsh, S. Cunningham, N. Curran, G. Walsh, T. Curran.
PORTLAW: N. Kelly, P. Nolan, D. Walsh, D. Long, M. Donnelly, A. Kirwan, S. Cullinane, J. Hartley, M. Power, M. Hartley, B. Laffan, E. Rockett, M. Walsh, F. Kelly, J. Laffan. Sub: P. Coffey for M. Hartley.
Referee: T. O’Byrne.
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