Oylegate-Glenbrien 2-11 Ferns St. Aidan’s 1-9

Seamus Casey goaled and pointed during a decisive third-quarter burst by Oylegate-Glenbrien which ensured they overcame Ferns St. Aidan’s in a moderate Pettitt’s county senior hurling championship Group B first-round clash at Hollymount on Saturday evening.

The eventual winners led 0-7 to 0-6 at the end of a rather dreary first-half before dominating the resumption to charge clear by 1-9 to 0-7 after 44 minutes in what transpired to be the defining period of the game.

Casey was the main man throughout as he finished with an impressive personal haul of 1-7 (0-4 frees).

But Ferns made the best start when an exchange of points between no.6 Gavin Bailey and Oylegate’s Podge Doran was followed by Benny Jordan and team captain Paul Morris edging Ferns ahead by 0-3 to 0-1 after nine minutes.

Casey then began to get particularly busy for Oylegate as captain Michael Heffernan steadied things at the back, and four scores (three frees) from Casey between the 14th and 25th minutes turned the tables by 0-5 to 0-3.

The gap was down to the minimum at half-time (0-7 to 0-6) after Ferns free-taker Christopher ‘Bitsy’ O’Connor (3) shaded Casey (2) for the remainder of the half.

The second-half didn’t exactly catch fire, although Oylegate looked to be hitting some convincing form when Jamie Reck fed Seamus Casey to net a 1-7 to 0-6 advantage on 36 minutes. And Casey almost immediately followed with another goal only to see his stinging drive whiz across the face of goal after a tidy set up by Fergal Doran.

Nevertheless, MJ Reck’s ‘Blues’ stretched ahead by 1-9 to 0-7 on 44 minutes as Damien Reck and Fergal Doran chipped in.

Ferns eventually knuckled down to add some intrigue to affairs, particularly after Eoin Murphy and Patrick Breen combined for Paul Morris to whip to the net and help narrow the gap to 1-11 to 1-8 approaching the closing ten minutes.

Ferns erred badly from a close-range free before enduring a considerable blow when a free from Damien Reck broke off Podge Doran for Jack Reck to goal for a tidy 2-11 to 1-8 lead after 54 minutes.

With time fast running out and facing this six point deficit, Benny Jordan went for goal from a 57th-minute free for Ferns. But his drive was deflected over at the expense of a consolation point as Oylegate-Glenbrien held strong to start their 2018 campaign just as they did the 2017 version, with victory – and they went on to win four straight games a year ago. They didn’t look as polished on this occasion though and have some fine-tuning to do.

Ferns found some punch midway through the second-half, but they’ll need to improve to get back into the business-end of the championship having survived the relegation-final last year.

Oylegate-Glenbrien – John Foley; Robert O’Connor, Fergus Heffernan, Mike Kelly; Ciarán Hourihane, Michael Heffernan (capt.), Mark Kavanagh; Fergal Doran (0-1), Conor Heffernan; Conor Nolan, Damien Reck (0-1), Pádraig Doran (0-2); Seamus Casey (1-7, 0-4 frees), Jamie Reck, Jack Reck (1-0).

Subs: Tom White for Nolan (48); Conor Doyle for Jack Reck (60).

Ferns St. Aidan’s – Michael Walsh; Conor Scallan, John Breen, Declan Byrne; Ciarán Roberts, Gavin Bailey (0-1), James Tonks; Benny Jordan (0-3, 2 frees), Tommy Dwyer; Eoin Murphy, Paul Morris (capt., 1-1), Niall Murphy; Chris Turner (0-1), Patrick Breen, Christopher O’Connor (0-3 frees).

Subs: James Lawlor for N Murphy (40); Edward Walsh for Turner (51).

Referee – Gearóid McGrath (St. James’).