On Saturday evening last, in wet and very windy conditions our Intermediates took on Tracton in the Intermediate hurling league at home in the Hill. The weather certainly wouldn’t have pleased the hurling purists but both teams served up a competitive and enjoyable game. The Hill got off to a great start, playing with the strong wind in the first half and we found ourselves 1-2 to no score inside the opening two and half minutes. The goal coming from Shane O Regan Og after great individual work. By the time Tracton got off the mark in the tenth minute the Hill had another point tagged on to lead 1-3 to 0-1, all three points coming from Patrick O Regan (2f, 1 play). For the next ten minutes both teams traded two points each and then on the twentieth minute, the Hill struck for their second goal, again coming from the hurl of Shane O Regan. Tracton would add a point from a placed ball shortly after and then just before halftime the home side struck for a third goal, which was somewhat fortuitous, coming from a long free from Patrick O Regan which somehow got passed a swarm of bodies and passed the Tracton goalkeeper to raise a green flag. Patrick would add another point from a free two minutes into first half injury time, to leave the scores at halftime 3-6 to 4 pts. Despite having an eleven point lead at halftime, the general consensus amongst the crowd at halftime was this game was far from over as the Hill did have the backing of a very strong wind and we knew the home side one need a strong second half performance to withstand the Tracton fight back. On the resumption, the Hill got off to a good start, getting the first score of the second half after great work from William Connolly. Tracton would then take the ascendency for a while on the scoring stakes at least, adding 4 unanswered points over the first twenty minutes, but the fact it was kept to four was in great credit to how hard the home side were working. Every one of the Hill lads put in a great shift, working tirelessly on and off the ball. For the last ten minutes of the game, Tracton would add on 1-3, the goal similar in many ways to Patricks in the first half coming from a long range free, wind assisted and finishing up in the net. The Hill for their part added three final points, two from Patrick O Regan, one free and one from play to bring Patricks overall tally to 1-6 and a lovely score from Anthony Cronin coming in from a tight angle on the righthand side. So in the end, a good first half performance aided by a strong wind followed by serious shift work-rate wise in the second half, saw the Hill run out winners on a score line of  3-10 to 1-11. Well done lads. We lost Dylan McCarthy, Aaron Ricken and Padraig O Leary to injury during this game, speedy recovery lads, hope to see you back for Friday night!