Dunboyne’s interest in this years Intermediate Hurling championship came to an end today in Trim, where they fell victim to a 2-point defeat against Kilskyre/Moylagh. Ultimately, though our lads battled bravely, we were felled by 3 goals that we had been dealing well with all year. Each goal was like a dagger to the heart and on a day when our opponents packed their defence our forward division never got motoring like we know they can.

Dunboyne, playing with a gale in the first half got off to a fine start with 5 points in the first 7 minutes (1f). KS/M then pilfered 1:01 between the 8th and 10th minute. Two Jason Gleeson frees sandwiched a KS/M converted free to leave it at 0:07 to 1:02 on 23 minutes. The game was turned on its head in the 25th minute when KS/M had a quickfire 1:01 to put them now in front by two. Sean Quigley pulled one back before KS/M finished the half with two more from placed balls. This left the score at half time Dunboyne 0:08 (3f) Kilskyre/Moylagh 2:05 (3f), with St Peters having it all to do in the second 30.

Conor Murphy pulled one back in the first minute followed shortly after by another Gleeson free. But then another hammer blow for the Black and Ambers, a long ball in was kept in play by the KS/M no.14 and he managed to outwit the Dunboyne rear guard and bagged himself and his team a 3rd goal. (0:10 to 3:08). Two more Gleeson frees and one from play off the stick of Eoghan McCormack were followed up by a KS/M converted free to leave the score on 19 minutes at 0:13 to 3:06. A key moment then came when Sean Cregan’s flick to the back of the net was deemed a square ball after consultation between the Referee and the two umpires. This would have put the Dunboyne lads back in front again and in a commanding position but instead it was wiped off the score board and KS/M went down the field and grabbed a point from play to put them 3 up again.

Eoghan McCormack, who was having a big game for Dunboyne, pulled one back again as the clock headed into injury time. But the opposition pulled away again with 3 unanswered points (2f). Dunboyne did get a goal back deep into injury time, an overhead pull from James Lonergan that would grace any match; to leave just 2 between the sides but unfortunately it was too late to mount another comeback and the final whistle blew 60 seconds later. Score at the end was Dunboyne 1:14 (6f) Kilskyre/Moylagh 3:10 (6f), with KS/M now marching on to the IHC Final where they will play Rathmolyon in the final in two weeks for the Mick Leonard Cup.

So, on reflection of the season, you would have to say a lot of progress was made after the disappointment of relegation from the senior ranks last year. Sure, defeat is always hard to take, but a new team is being constructed with 5 U21’s breaking on to the team this year, with 3 more on injured list for today’s game. They got to the Cup final and the Div2 League final along with the IHC semi-final and 28 players saw game time during the championship run. And remember our junior team also got to the County Final. You could argue that the game plan for today’s battle worked to a point, with KS/M only getting 4 points from play but conceding 3 goals against the run of play was never part of the plan from a defence that was solid all year. Such is sport!

From a club hurling point of view, we still have our minors in their County Final to look forward to next Saturday, and the U21 hurling championship, which is due to start in the coming weeks. Best of luck to both teams.

Team: Paul Graves; Ger Murphy; Evan McCrudden; Ciaran Lonergan; James Lonergan (1:00); Diarmuid Delaney; Alan Waters; Fergal Chawke; Eoghan McCormack (0:03); Sean Quigley (0:02); Eric Lowndes (0:01); Jason Gleeson (0:07, 6f); Conor Murphy (0:01); Daniel Boyd; Niall Smyth;

Bench: Killian Smith (for Chawke); Christy Griffin (for Alan Waters); Sean Cregan (for Niall Smyth).