Bennett does the damage as Lismore march on

Lismore 0-16 Roanmore 0-11

His unerring accuracy from frees and play propelled Lismore into the quarter final of the Waterford senior hurling championship at Dungarvan, yesterday.

Bennett lined out at corner forward but eventually moved to the forty, and his towering performance was the decisive factor in his side’s hard earned but deserved five point win.

He ended the hour with a massive twelve point haul, half of them from play and from a whole range of angles and distances.

The decision to leave Shanahan on the substitutes bench was taken when he failed an early morning fitness test, and though introduced nine minutes into the second half visibly struggled.

If Bennett was the scoring hero for Lismore David Byrne was equally impressive for Roanmore, notching a nine points haul.

It was nip and tuck throughout an exciting and hugely competitive opening half with Lismore racing into a three point lead insider four minutes, all of them coming from Bennett.

But Roanmore were level by the 9th minute with points from Byrne (2) and Laurence O’Neill, and they were marginally the better side for the remainder of the half and well deserved their slender 0-7 to 0-6 interval advantage.

Three times in the third quarter the rivals were again level, but Bennett’s prodigious point from a 46th minute free put Lismore back in front and there they stayed to the end.

Dan Shanahan’s introduction didn’t improve matters because he was clearly hampered by his ankle injury, but Bennett continued to point the way with scores from play and frees.

Byrne managed a brace for a now flagging Roanmore to keep them in touch, but it was the winners who finished in command with further minors from James Shanahan, Bennett, and John Heneghan to copperfasten victory by a margin that slightly flattered them.

Scorers: Lismore: D. Bennett (0-12, 0-5 frees, 0-1); D. Howard, B. Bennett, J. Shanahan, J. Heneghan (0-1) each. Roanmore: D. Byrne (0-9, 0-7 frees); L. O’Neill, C. Fanning (0-1) each.

LISMORE: B. Landers; Ml. O’Sullivan. S. Kearney. Mark O’Sullivan; M. Walsh. J. O’Connor. W. Cunningham; M. Prendergast. D. O’Gorman; P. Prendergast. D. Howard., J. Shanahan; J.Heneghan. D. Bennett. B. Bennett. Subs: S. Prendergast for M. Prendergast; D. Shanahan for B. Bennett.

ROANMORE: B. Brannigan; K. Gentleman. D. Ryan. C. O’Byrne; E. Carew. D. Murphy. G. Quinlan; P. Murphy. C. Fanning; D. Byrne. S. Murphy. S. Flynn; L. O’Neill. M. Mackey. C. Burke. Subs: S. Cowman for Carew; M. Creed for Burke; A. Burns for Cowman.

Referee: Stan Flynn, Fenor.