The Upperchurch junior B hurlers travelled to Killeedy in Limerick yesterday to face Whitechurch of Cork in the Munster final. On a cold blustery day the early exchanges were even with a Niall Grant point from play and 2 frees from Mike Ryan(D) seeing the sides level after 15 mins at 3 points apiece. After this Whitechurch took the upper hand outscoring Upperchurch 9 to 2 in the remainder of the first half with Mike Ryan scoring both of Upperchurch's points. This left Whitechurch with a 0-12 to 0-5 lead at half time having played with the breeze.
A further point at the resumption saw Whitechurch open an eight point lead but that only spurred Upperchurch into life and a Seamus Armstrong point saw us notch 1-5 in a 7 minute spell to draw level 1-10 to 0-13, including a goal from Michael Ryan and points from Jack Ryan and Niall Grant. Whitechurch steadied the ship with 2 pointed frees before a monster point from Andy Kinane reduced the deficit to just 1 point with 7 minutes left. But that was as close as it was to get as Whitechurch added two further points and weathered the storm to hold on for a 3 point victory 1-11 to 0-17.
Upperchurch can feel that this is a game that could easily have been won with some decisions not going our way and the Whitechurch keeper making a fine save from a TJ Butler shot. However Whitechurch deserve credit on their victory with a well balanced team. Both teams now focus on the All Ireland semi finals and a small improvement on yesterdays performance gives Upperchurch a great chance of advancing. In the second game of the day Galway's Kinvara beat Cranford of Wexford 2-13 to 0-8 to claim the Leinster title.
Upperchurch scorers: M. Ryan 1-6, N Grant 0-2, Armstrong 0-1, J. Ryan 0-1, Kinane 0-1
Team: 1. David Carey, 2. Ger Fogarty, 3. Lenny Purcell (c), 4. Dean Carew, 5. Jason Jordan, 6. Andy Kinane, 7. John Quinn, 8. LJ Ryan, 9. Diarmuid Grant, 10. Niall Grant, 11. Seamus Armstrong, 12. Michael Ryan (D), 15. TJ Butler, 14. Jack Ryan, 15. Ronan Gleeson
Subs: 17. Toby Clancy, 18. Robert Murphy, 19. Stephen Gleeson, 20. Tim Ryan, 21. Eamon Fogarty, 22. Colm Kennedy, 23. Nathan Delaney, 24. Pakie Bourke, 25. Conor Ryan
