Abbeyside's Sean O'Hare about to clear under pressure from De La Salle's Michael Doherty during their SHC clash in Walsh Park. | Photos: Maurice Hennebry/Déise Sport
Abbeyside's Sean O'Hare about to clear under pressure from De La Salle's Michael Doherty during their SHC clash in Walsh Park. | Photos: Maurice Hennebry/Déise Sport
De La Salle 1-22; Abbeyside 0-16
County stars Kevin Moran and John Mullane were very much to the fore as De La Salle put a depleted Abbeyside team to the sword at Walsh Park last Sunday. They scored 1-10 between them which was the catalyst for a surprisingly easy De La Salle victory.
Another man to impress for the city side was Tipperary native John Keane whose addition to the De La Salle ranks looks to have solved the old Achilles heel of free-taking.
Despite conceding the first score of the game to a Mark Gorman free, De La Salle were soon two points ahead when John Keane scored his first two of the day, followed by Kevin Moran’s first after picking up a short free from Brian Phelan.
Abbeyside then enjoyed their best period of the game as their short passing style created a number of openings for their forwards.
Laurence Hurney brought the western side level before a fine John Gorman point put them in front. Mullane then equalised for De La Salle with a trademark individual point before De La Salle lost their way for a period.
Sean O’Hare put Abbeyside back in front with a fine strike before corner-forward Mark Gorman scored three points in the space of two minutes as Abbeyside led by double-scores.
There was a strong breeze in Walsh Park on Sunday, and Abbeyside were going to need a decent lead to bring into the second half. In the final minutes of the first period De La Salle upped the ante and Abbeyside had no answer.
With only a minute left in the first half, Abbeyside still led by four points and yet by the time the teams went to the dressing-rooms, they trailed by a point. As De La Salle surged forward, Abbeyside lost their concentration. John Keane’s three frees brought the 2008 champions right back into the game.
As the match went into injury time, a goalmouth scramble in front of the Abbeyside goal finished with Kevin Moran finding the back of the net with a low ground stroke.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full match report.
