Rebel Og East Fe 18 Hurling Championship: Our Minors were in action last night in their second championship game of the season, with Fr O’ Neill’s our visitors to the Hill. Played in lovely conditions on a balmy summers evening in the Hill, this was an eagerly anticipated game for the home supporters following an impressive opening day showing by this team in Aghada two weeks ago. This was a sterner test and the game was pushed right to the end. The first half was tit for tat with Fr O’ Neills having the best of the opening minutes on the scoreboard, taking a 3 point to 1 lead inside the opening five minutes. The home side settled into the game however, and some nice scores from Daire O’ Leary (65), Colm O’ Regan (from play) & Cael Guichard (play) levelled up the scores. Cael’s score came from a lovely passage of play, where Daire O’ Leary commanding at centre back, played a ball upfield into space to full forward Joe O’ Riordan, who off loaded to Colm O’ Regan, Colm had a quick look at the posts but spotted Cael in a better position and fed him a quick ball and Cael coolly sent it between the posts for the Hill’s third score of the game. The game was tied as the ref blew for the first half water break. The resumption of play definitely saw an increase in the intensity and it was the Hill who got the first score with a lovely taken point by corner forward Cian Cronin O’ Neill, out on the right hand touch line. However Fr O’ Neill’s were quick to respond and did so with the games opening goal. A long ball dropped into the Hill square and goalkeeper James Barry had a lot of company for the aerial battle and the sliotar somehow deceived all and dropped into the goal, Fr O’ Neill’s now led 1-3 to 4 points, twenty minutes on the clock. The remainder of the half belonged to the Hill and they would register four points without reply. It was noticeable how hard our backs were working and a lot of the scores were coming from solid work in defence putting pressure on our opponents and keeping their scoring threat at bay. Joe O’ Riordan was unlucky for a goal with the O’Neills keeper saving, putting it out for a 65 which Brendan Lehane dispatched. Despite a few wides from both teams the score at halftime was Watergrasshill 8 points, Fr O’ Neills 1-3. The Hill started the second half where they left off and substitute Ian O’ Callaghan got off the mark inside the opening minute with a nice point from play. Brendan Lehane, covering a lot of ground in the middle two thirds, added another from a placed ball to have us lead 10 points to 1-3 after 4 minutes of the restart. Both teams then traded scores before James Barry was called into action stopping a Fr O’ Neills goal chance, showing great presence in the Hill goal. Despite having the lion’s share of possession in the third quarter, we were missing scorable chances and were leaving our opponents in the game. They sensed this and added a score just before the second half water break to leave the scoreboard read, Watergrasshill 11 points, Fr O’ Neills 1-5. The last quarter really showed the character of this team. It was a warm evening and many of these lads already had games played this week and tiredness was showing, yet the lads dug in. Fr O’ Neills added two points and one stage the game was back to a two points deficit but Brendan again from a dead ball and another nice point form Ian saw our three point lead restored. The last ten minutes saw some spurned changes on both sides but our lads remained solid and in control and traded two points to Fr O’ Neills two points the last score coming in injury time from the impressive Brendan Lehane to put the score at 15 points to 1-9. This was how it finished and the lads once again came away with a good win and a good team performance. Well done to the panel of players and team management. The panel was: James Barry, Cormac Lenihan, Cathal Fitzgerald, Dylan Roche, Donal Sheehan, Daire O’ Leary, Andrew Chandler, Brendan Lehane, Mark O’ Donoghue, Liam Foley, Cael Guichard, Michael O’ Driscoll, Colm O’ Regan, Joe O’ Riordan, Cian Cronin O' Neill, Ian O’ Callaghan, Dylan Field, Ryan Murray, Eoin Fitzgerald.