Youghal make most of Ardmore red card

Youghal (Cork) 4-13 Ardmore (Waterford) 1-12

Ardmore and Youghal are less than 10 miles apart and the players even enjoyed a celebratory drink together after their respective county final victories, but yesterday it was back to business and a win to savour then for Youghal against 14-man Ardmore.

“Yeah, definitely,” said Youghal captain Bill Copper. “We would have gone to school with a lot of their lads. We know each other fairly well. We opened up in the last quarter, as you would expect when they were a man down. We were looking at teams like Ballymartle and Blarney coming out of the Premier intermediate hurling division in Cork and going all the way. Hopefully we can go on now and win Munster.”

The game’s defining moment came eight minutes in when Ardmore captain and centre-back Declan Prendergast received a straight red for an altercation with Alan Frahill O’Connor. A number of players got involved in the skirmish at a juncture when Ardmore trailed 1-0 to 1-2 (O’Connor having bagged the 1-2).

Ardmore selector Tom Flynn accepted the offence deserved a red but argued there were two players involved: “There were two fellas” he said. “We are disappointed over that. We can’t complain about the sending off, it was fair enough. But there was a head-butt thrown first. It was a bit early in the game for it to happen and it had a huge bearing.”

Overall, though, he said they would look forward to senior status next year.

“Our lads are either under 22 or over 30. There is a small gap there. Today was our first game as a senior club and we are disappointed to lose. But, we don’t think we are too much off of the likes of Passage (senior county champions), we wouldn’t fear them. Hopefully we can use this as experience”.

Christy Cooney made a late call not to start regular midfielder Nigel Roche after he picked up a shoulder injury in the Cork league final the previous Sunday.

Nonetheless, they settled immediately with Frahill O’Connor’s 1-2 before John Gartland pulled a goal back for Ardmore. The sending off of Prendergast then appeared to spark the Waterford champions into action, especially his brother Seamus who made a huge impact throughout. He finished the match with nine points, having a big physical presence over his markers.

Barry Ring acted as the extra defender for Youghal but it was Ardmore – playing with the strong wind – that took control hitting five points to Youghal’s one with Prendergast in particular giving them a vital edge. Youghal weren’t firing on all cylinders and their shooting was off too. They brought Andrew Curtin into the fray. They were making little leeway, and dogged defending from Richie Hennessy denied O’Connor a second goal before the changeover. This left Ardmore to the front, 1-8 to 1-5 at the break. Youghal were turning with wind advantage and it was a question of would Ardmore’s 14 hold out against Youghal’s 15? Two points within a couple of minutes from John Gartland and Prendergast suggested they might. But, Youghal got the break they badly needed when a Leigh Desmond free was tipped to the net by Ciaran O’Mahony and when Brendan Ring followed with a white flag, the deficit was reduced to one point. Prendergast added two frees for Ardmore and by the 42nd minute they led 1-12 to 2-7, but they were flat out.

They failed to score again as the numerical disadvantage told. Youghal came into their own for the remaining quarter. Curtin’s goal followed points from Cooper and Desmond. They added four more white flags in the 50th, 52nd, 54th and 56th minute before wing-back Ollie Dempsey — equally at home in the attack — combined with James O’Mahony to fire past Clinton Hennessy.

Scorers for Youghal: A Frahill O’Connor (1-3), A Curtin (1-1), L Desmond (0-4, three frees), C O’Mahony and O Dempsey (1-0 each), B Ring (0-3), B Cooper (0-2).

Scorers for Ardmore: S Prendergast (0-9, five frees), J Gartland (1-1), M Cronin and S Keating (0-1 each).

YOUGHAL: R Cunningham; B Sullivan, J Grace, K Walsh; O Dempsey, C Spillane, Barry Ring; D Ring, J O’Mahony; C O’Mahony, A Frahill O’Connor, B Cooper (Capt); B Moloney, Brendan Ring, L Desmond.

Subs: A Curtin for D Ring (bs 17-22), A Curtin for B Moloney (23), B Coleman for C O’Mahony (46), D Scanlon for O Dempsey (60).

ARDMORE: C Hennessy; N Hennessy, C O’Shea, D Power; K Murphy, D Prendergast (Capt), R Hennessy; M Cronin, W Hennessy; S Keating, D Gartland, C Hennessy; T Conway, S Prendergast, J Gartland.

Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary).