Fintan's in complete control
ST. FINTAN'S made light work of St. Martin's as they claimed a routine three-point victory in Group B of the Junior 'C' hurling championship at Ballymore on Friday last.
The home team were made to sweat for victory despite being the far superior side, with only two soft goals the difference between a close contest and the thumping the lax visitors deserved.
A superb stop by Tomás Hayes from a pulled Niall Murphy effort in the opening few minutes was as close as St. Fintan's came to grabbing an elusive major, but with the nippy Jamie Codd getting his personal tally going early, and Paddy Keane lashing over from well inside his own half, they eased into a two-point lead after the opening quarter (0-4 to 0-2).
Four further Codd points and an effort from Martin Goggin put the home side seven clear as St. Martin's struggled to gain a foothold, yet Alan Kehoe smashed a free from 25 metres into the net late in the half to send his side in just three down at the break (0-9 to 1-3).
Micheál Lyng's long-range effort dipped past Brendan Pettit and into the net to pull the Piercestown-based side within two points in the 38th minute, and despite a Wayne O'Leary point for St. Fintan's, Kehoe added two further frees to cut the gap to one (0-13 to 2-6).
That was as close as they got to drawing level as Codd again added a brace, the second of which brought his personal tally to ten, and the visitors failed to score in the remaining 14 minutes to throw the group wide open.
