LEINSTER JUNIOR ‘B’ HURLING FINAL: BUNCLODY 6-20 ARDSCOIL RIS 1-6
Ardscoil fall to final defeat against super Slaneysiders
Daire Walsh
ARDSCOIL RIS suffered a comprehensive defeat at the hands of an impressive FCJ Bunclody side in the Leinster Schools Juvenile ‘B’ Hurling Championship decider at Athy last Thursday afternoon.
Despite coming into the contest as provincial champions, the Griffith Avenue school struggled to curtail the influence of Bunclody skipper Darragh Farrell. He finished with an outstanding tally of 2-5, while Tom Quigley, Ciaran Whiting and Aaron Dunne amassed a combined haul of 3-8.
Just seven days before this clash in north Kildare, Ardscoil had secured the Dublin Juvenile ‘A’ Hurling title with a resounding final victory over St Benildus College (5-14 to 3-9). The Ardscoil management largely stuck with the tried and trusted, but Ben Sullivan and Conor Dolan were drafted into the team in place of Leo Sweeney and Ruairi Falls respectively.
The class of 2019 were seeking to emulate the heroics of last season’s squad – a 2-14 to 3-5 Leinster final success at the expense of Colaiste Mhuire, Mullingar. Bunclody dominated proceedings from the word go, however, and left Ardscoil nine points adrift during the early exchanges.
Farrell and Dunne rattled the net, before Stacey finally opened the Ardscoil account with a free. This only offered the Metropolitans a temporary release as further goals – courtesy of Tom Quigley, Farrell and Dunne – gave Bunclody an insurmountable interval cushion.
To Ardscoil’s credit, they continued to battle on the restart. Substitute Ruairi Kelly bagged a well-worked goal on 41 minutes and the ever dangerous Stacey finished with four points to his name.
Davin Downes and Eoin Ferguson also added their names to the scoresheet but with Robert Black securing a sixth Bunclody goal, there was never any doubt surrounding the destination of the silverware.