1st Team Hurling Report

Following a defeat to Eoghan Ruadh/St Oliver Oliver Plunketts on Tuesday evening in AHL5, St Finians travelled to play Na Fianna in Mobhi Road this morning with a difficult task in hand as a number of players were absent owing to injury and exams

From an early stage it was evident St. Finians were up for the challenge with Jason Merriman making his season debut for the first team in a new full forward role for him with his brother Fintan operating at wing back to good effect. Jason got the key score of the half with a deft overhead flick goal that not even Johnny Walsh could pull off.

This meant the teams were level at half time. At the start of the 2nd half, Na Fianna took over for the 3rd quarter and powered into a 4 point lead with the outlook looking rather bleak for St Finians. However, with James Shelly dropping deep and getting on a lot of ball in the middle third, St Finians started to get a foothold and with Mikey Gormally close in and James Shelly from long range converting frees St Finians got back in the game. A goal from Mikey Gormally meant Finians had turned a 4 point deficit into a 4 point lead with the match approaching full time.

However victory was not secured with Na Fianna hitting 3 points in a row in injury time meaning Finians had a nervous finish but the defence held firm in the final attack to ensure St. Finians held on for a 1 point victory in a 2-15 to 0-20 scoreline in what was a battling performance away from home to collect two valuable league points