Tasty, but wasteful Our Lady's

Our Lady’s, Templemore 1-19, Douglas C.S. 1-15

However, though they out-hurled Douglas Community School for long periods, showing sweet touches in the process, some appalling shooting might well have cost them dearly.

Gritty Douglas, with four defections from their planned lineout, gave it their all. But quick Templemore scoring bursts at the start of each half proved too much to overcome. But they can take heart from a gutsy show.

Our Lady’s exploded into action and inside the opening five minutes were four points clear, James Ryan knocking over three and Dave Costigan another. Douglas looked in big trouble but, with Alan Barry, Cillian Murphy and Fintan O’Leary upping the tempo, looking for quick low ball to the tasty Steve Moylan, they responded.

A couple of points from Moylan and two more from the busy O’Leary - he scored 0-10 in all - soon tied up the scores until Eanna Jones set up his midfield partner Jody Ryan for a class point to give Our Lady’s a 0-5 to 0-4 lead after the opening quarter .

Jones and Ryan were ruling midfield, forcing the Douglas sideline action, moving Mark Hayes out around the middle. And it worked a treat for although Our Lady’s hit three more points, two from Shane Burke and a Jody Ryan free, Moylan, Hayes and O’Leary forged Douglas into a 0-9 to 0-8 interval lead courtesy of a wasteful Templemore side who had 15 wides overall to Douglas’s three.

The Templemore sideline must have been vexed and it got even better for Douglas when O’Leary stretched their lead just after the restart. But now more focused and quicker to the ball, Templemore proceeded to turn it on, with centre-back Kieran McGrath coming more into the action. As in the first-half they quickly cut the Douglas defence to shreds as first Costigan set up James Ryan for a 31st minute goal and then two points from John Ryan and one apiece from Costigan, Shane Burke, Gearóid Ryan and Shane Purcell put Templemore 1-16 to 0-11 clear after the third quarter.

But looking far too complacent and missing too many chances, gritty Douglas dug in and let Templemore know they were in a match. With O’Leary firing over the frees and Moylan a real threat up front, it took a great save by Our Lady’s keeper Noel McGrath to deny the corner-forward in 54th minute but the alert Hayes put the rebound in the net.

Moylan was nearly in again a few minute later after a great run, his shot going agonizingly wide. Our Lady’s, although blessed with better hurlers, had made hard work of it.

Scorers for Our Lady’s: James Ryan 1-4, Shane Burke, John Ryan (0-3 frees) 0-4 each, D. Costigan 0-3, Jody Ryan 0-2 (0-1 free), G. Ryan, S. Purcell 0-1 each.

Douglas C.S.: F. O’Leary 0-10 (0-8 frees, 0-1 ‘65), M. Hayes 1-2, S. Moylan 0-3.

OUR LADY’S TEMPLEMORE: N. McGrath; T. Nolan, P. Burke, J. Costigan; P. Ryan, K. McGrath, M. McGrath; E. Jones, J. Ryan; G. Ryan, D. Costigan, John Ryan; S. Burke, S. Purcell, James Ryan.

DOUGLAS CS: P. Murphy; R. Murphy, A. Barry, D. Lynch; P. Holland, C. Murphy, E. Cotter; S. Hanrahan, K. O’Donoghue; E. Hearne, F. O’Leary, P. Casey; M. Doody, S. Moylan, M. hayes.

Referee D. Farrell (Mitchelstown).