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Warwickshire heap woe on London
 Warwickshire
2-13
London 0-4
British Junior Hurling Championship Final
Warwickshire deservedly re-gained the provincial junior hurling title
after a comprehensive 15-point defeat of a poor London team on Saturday.
Scorelines seldom lie and neither did this one which accurately reflected
the gulf in class between the hosts and their woeful opponents at Pairc
na hÉireann.
London enjoyed the better of the early exchanges but missed a hatful of
chances before eventually opening the scoring through veteran attacker
Martin Harrell on eight minutes.
London were made to pay dearly for the six wides they hit in the first
quarter when a Colm Hunter goal opened Warwickshire’s account.
A mis-hit free by Tony Joyce drifted into the square and although goalkeeper
Steve Donoghue initially saved Hunter finished the rebound to the net.
A Mel Guinan point soon afterwards put a goal between the sides and although
Sean Howlin replied in the 18th minute London were struggling visibly
to compete with their better prepared opponents.
Warwickshire dominated the second quarter and after striking four unanswered
points from Brendan Hogan (2), Guinan and a Hunter free the result was
beginning to look inevitable with London’s only reply being a disputed
Harrell point just before the stroke of half-time which made the score
Warwickshire 1-5 London 0-3.
Any hopes of a London revival were extinguished within six minutes of
the resumption when Colm Hunter scored his second goal for the hosts.
By now the Warwickshire midfield partnership of Stephen Gilmore and Trevor
Neville were in complete control as the London defence came under intense
pressure.
Despite the best efforts of London’s centre back Darren Howlin and
wing-back Alan Moloney the Warwickshire attack always looked menacing
and hit five points without reply before the end of the third quarter.
Midfielder Gilmore (2), Wayne Healey, Joyce and Hunter were all on the
target to open up a 2-10 to 0-3 lead.
Not surprisingly with their Nicky Rackard Cup campaign due to start in
the next four weeks Warwickshire decided to ring the changes and introduced
four substitutes — Joe McDermott, Seamus Brough, Stephen Aherne
and John Hughes replaced Barron, Hogan, Guinan and John Healey.
Despite the dismissal of Brough following a slight altercation Warwickshire
still finished strongly with points from Hughes, Wayne Healey and finally
a Hunter free. Joe Mullins had London’s solitary second-half score
following a Sean Howlin assist midway through the second period.
Warwickshire will be further boosted by this back-to-back victory following
their triumph over Leitrim last weekend.
Warwickshire face Louth in the Rackard Cup first round on June 23 and
after this display they can look forward to that clash with a measure
of confidence. |
