Last year’s runners-up Duffry Rovers overcame a searching test from Our Lady’s Island in the opening series of games in the Top Oil county intermediate ‘A’ hurling championship.

GROUP A

Alan O’Neill netted the all-important goal for Duffry Rovers as they came through by 1-10 to 0-9 in Saturday’s clash at St. Patrick’s Park.

But Our Lady’s Island must be credited for demonstrating real character having been reduced to 14-men at one stage.

Liam Pender caught the eye for the winners with a contribution of six points in a tie in which Alan O’Neill’s goal earned them a 1-4 to 0-4 lead at half-time.

Also at St. Patrick’s Park on Saturday, there was plenty of excitement in the curtain-raiser as Taghmon-Camross held out against battling Tara Rocks by 1-16 to 1-13.

Shane Lacey’s goal eventually proved priceless for Taghmon, especially after they were reduced to 14-men just before half-time.

Tara Rocks fought hard and even pegged back a goal deep into injury-time. But it came too late to deny Taghmon a winning start to the campaign.

At the ‘Centre of Excellence’ in Ferns on Sunday, St. Patrick’s displayed tremendous guts when coming back from 2-11 to 0-7 down after 45 minutes to eventually draw 2-13 apiece with Shelmaliers’ second-string.

The Shels, county Junior champions in 2016, led 0-7 to 0-6 at half-time before Ronan Kavanagh found the net twice to blow open a 2-11 to 0-7 advantage midway through the second-half.

But Colin Sunderland’s St. Pat’s management made a significant switch at the back at that stage as full-back Michael O’Brien and centre-back Richie Flood swapped positions to great effect.

And the Gorey district men quickly responded with a 46th-minute goal which fuelled their fight-back as they went on to turn the tables by 2-12 to 2-11 after 58 minutes as John Doyle (who hit 1-10 in total) and Shane Finn both goaled.

The Shels, however, got back to the brink of victory as they eked out a 2-13 to 2-12 lead only to be held by a Tommy Morris leveller for the Pat’s.

GROUP B

Reigning county Junior champions Gusserane provided lots of thrills at Oylegate on Saturday in Group B only to see a stunning fight-back fall short by the minimum as Ballygarrett won 3-15 to 1-20.

Ballygarrett led 2-9 to 0-9 at half-time and stretched ahead by 3-10 to 0-11 on 37 minutes after Eoin Corcoran completed a terrific hat-trick for Mark Doyle’s charges.

But Gusserane mounted a serious revival as Sam Wall contributed a bunch of points before Seán ‘Mini’ Ryan goaled on 55 minutes to cut the gap to three points (3-15 to 1-18). Gusserane were very much on top at that stage, and a couple more Sam Wall points (one free) brought them within a whisker of salvaging something for their exploits.

However, Ballygarrett’s good early deeds paid rich dividends with Jack Hobbs hitting 0-9 (7 frees) to be prominent along with hat-trick hero Corcoran.

And Liam Mellows added to the sense of Gorey district satisfaction in Saturday’s double-header at Oylegate as they got past Geraldine O’Hanrahans by 0-11 to 0-8.

The ‘Mellows led 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time before the Geraldines got back level on 0-7 apiece midway through the second-half. But the New Ross town-side were reduced to 14-men and although they got the gap down to a point nearing the end, Liam Mellows had the necessary kick to get over the winning-line with Eoin Cullen accounting for the bulk of the winning tally.

On Sunday in Camolin, Alan O’Connor’s Oulart-The Ballagh second-string had a bit to spare against Marshalstown (2-20 to 0-11).

The eventual winners overcame facing a strong wind in the first-half to lead Marshalstown by 0-10 to 0-9 at half-time.

Marshalstown were still competing with interest until Oulart grabbed two goals in quick succession through Tomás Dunne and Cormac Finn as the red-and-black established a vice-like grip on proceedings to sweep to the spoils.