Lismore prove too strong for Dunhill in Intermediate Hurling Final

Lismore will play in the county senior hurling championship in in 2017 after they recorded a 5-19 to 1-7 win over Dunhill in this year’s County Intermediate championship final at Fraher Field on Friday evening.

From the first second to the last, Lismore were always on top in this game despite for a few second in the opening minutes of the game when it looked as if Dunhill could put it up to the side that beat Modeligo in the Western Final least than a week previous.

The game was only twenty two seconds old when the Lismore were welcoming the first score of the game and what a game it was.

Davin Phelan pulled back a point for Lismore on two minutes which was cancelled out a minute later by a Peter O’Keeffe effort from play.

Three minutes later the sizable Dunhill support in the crowd that amounted to in the region of 2,000 were delirious when Shane Casey did all the spade work himself before beating Seanie Barry for a well taken goal.

Lismore however would not be behind for long as from the puck out after Casey’s goal, Jack Prendergast who was a worthy winner of the Man of the Match award in this game won the ball and laid it off to Dan Shanahan who beat Ryan Butler who impressed for Dunhill despite letting five goals past him.

Jack Prendergast, Maurice Shanahan, Brendan Landers and Maurice Shanahan again pointed for Lismore to give them a 2-5 to 1-1 lead with fourteen minutes on the clock.

Shane Casey and Eamon Murphy who have played senior hurling for the county in recent years added points for Dunhill before Lismore again raised a green flag.

A Seanie Barry delivery reached Dan Shanahan who broke the ball for younger brother Maurice who blasted to the net to give his side a 3-5 to 1-3 lead with just eighteen minutes played and the signs were starting to look not good for Dunhill.

Maurice Shanahan from a free, Jack Prendergast who was picked out with a nice flick from Dan Shanahan soon followed and on twenty one minutes, Dan Shanahan drew an excellent save from Ryan Butler, but with his next chance he made no mistake as he split the posts while falling to the ground to give his side a fourteen point lead.

A minute later, Lismore hit a fourth goal and it was no surprise to see who was involved as Maurice Shanahan repaid the earlier opportunity afforded to him as he picked out Jack Prendergast who finished to the net with style.

Further points from Peter O’Keeffe and Jack Prendergast followed by the twenty seventh minute and a minute later Maurice Shanahan put over but he will have known that he could just as easily have goaled.

The game was held up before the break following an injury to Conor Quinn which required him to be helped from the field, and in the time that was added on for stoppages by referee Pat Casey Shane Casey and Jack Prendergast swapped scores to give Lismore a 4-12 to 1-4 lead at the break.

Dunhill had a good start to the second half with Cillian Bonner putting over after just fifteen seconds but Lismore wasted no time in getting back on top as Maurice Shanahan with a hat trick of scores, Brendan Landers and Peter O’Keeffe put over scores to give Lismore a 4-17 to 1-5 lead with eighteen minutes to play.

The scores dried up in the third quarter as Jack Prendergast and Maurice Shanahan put over either side of the three quarter stage mark in the game which was followed with a fifth Lismore goal on fifty minutes, Dan Shanahan finishing to the net and giving his familiar goal scoring salute to the large crowd after he was picked out by Jack Prendergast after he won a long Maurice Shanahan free.

Dunhill did add two late scores, the first from a Davin Phelan ’65 and a Briany Dunbar effort from play but they proved to be mere consolation scores as Dunhill’s chance of winning this game had long gone.

Lismore: Seanie Barry; Michael Fitzgerald, David Prendergast, Pat Hennessy; Eoin Bennett, Ray Barry, Paudie Prendergast; Stevie Barry, John Prendergast; Brendan Landers, Jack Prendergast, Maurice Shanahan; Jordan Prendergast, Dan Shanahan, Peter O'Keeffe. Subs: Sean Reaney for Eoin Bennett (48), Ronan Landers for Jack Prendergast (56), Eric O’Sullivan for Dan Shanahan (56), Emmett Quinn for Ray Barry (56), Brian Bennett for Brendan Landers (58)

Scorers: Maurice Shanahan 2-8 (0-5f), Jack Prendergast 1-5, Dan Shanahan 2-1, Peter O’Keeffe 0-3, Brendan Landers 0-2.

Dunhill: Ryan Butler; Conor Quinn, Tomás Dunbar, David Raher; Noel Murphy, Jason Phelan, Tomás Casey; Eoin Ryan, Davin Phelan; Eoghan Casey, Bryan Cunningham, Cillian Bonner; Jamie Burns, Shane Casey, Eamonn Murphy. Subs: Eoghan Queally for Conor Quinn (30+1), Michael Casey for Jamie Burns (36), Niall Burns for Bryan Cunningham (43), Briany Dunbar for Eoghan Casey (48), John Ryan for Tomás Dunbar.

Scorers: Shane Casey 1-2 (0-2f), Davin Phelan 0-2 (1 ’65), Cillian Bonner, Eamonn Murphy, Briany Dunbar 0-1 each.

Referee: Pat Casey (Cappoquin)