Brothers Pearse 1-10
Cú Chulainns 2-13
On Saturday in Ruislip, Cú Chulainns faced Brothers Pearse to determine who was going to be playing in the 2016 London Senior Hurling Championship and who would be relegated to Intermediate.
With such high stakes, the game was very sensibly refereed by Mick O’Dea as tensions ran high throughout, and a very tight opening quarter unfolded.
South London's Cú Chulainns just had their noses in front, mainly through the accuracy of Peter Phelan, when after 18 minutes he stepped up and blasted a long range free, which was saved, only for Karl Rodgers to drive the rebound to the net. That goal put them 1-05 to 0-04 ahead.
Peter Murphy, who was playing deep in the Cú Chulainns midfield, was winning a lot of the sliothar, and his lengthy clearances gave a plentiful supply to his forwards.
Cú Chulainns were five points up at the break and started the second-half where they left off the first, with Phelan pointing anything that came his way.
With the score at 1-09 to 0-06, Bros Pearse’s Kevin Reid stepped up to take a close-range free, which was blasted and initially saved, but found its way into the Cú Chulainns net.
With three points now the only difference, it looked game on, but a spectacular point from Michael Murphy lifted the whole Cú Chulainns team and, soon after, Phelan fielded a high ball and quickly hand-passed it to Aidan Power, who blasted it to the Pearse's net.
Tempers became frayed shortly afterwards, but Cú Chulainns reacted best by adding a few more points to win on a score of Cú Chulainns 2-13 to Bros Pearse 1-10.
It is worth pointing out that the Ruislip pitch was in good condition thanks to the hard work of the likes of Stephen O’Malley and Liam Brennan, tidying up and putting up new goal nets.
This Sunday will see Robert Emmetts contest against St Gabriels in the London Senior Hurling Championship final in Ruislip, with throw-in scheduled for 2pm.
