Bawn blow Lucan away

Good Old goal blitz seals ‘C’ silverware

OLD BAWN CS 6-12 LUCAN CC 1-8

THE central attacking axis of Alan Hudson and Kevin Ward were to the fore in Russell Park on Tuesday afternoon, as Old Bawn Community School secured a comprehensive victory against an overwhelmed Lucan Community College in a Senior Hurling ‘C’ decider played in chilly conditions.

Lucan had suffered a set-back in the build-up to the game when Dublin minor star Sean McClelland was ruled out through injur. But they made a bright start to proceedings in St Brigid’s, as a brace of long-range frees from midfielder John Bellew inside the opening three minutes of play gave them an early platform.

Parity

Old Bawn were not having it all their own way in the opening moments, but they managed to achieve parity with quick-fire points from centre-forward Ward, before taking the lead for the very first time when Hudson cut in from the left to finish brilliantly past Lucan netminder Daniel O’Neill.

With their tails now up, the Tallaght school raised further white flags courtesy of Cian Murphy, half-back Daniel Thorpe and Ward, but Lucan ensured the gap was narrowed to two by the 23rd minute thanks to four points from the influential Bellew.

However, it was around this point that the showpiece turned into a goal frenzy, with an incredible three goals falling the way of Old Bawn in just four minutes. A terrific brace from Hudson meant that he had sealed his hat-trick in lightning quick time, and a fourth major from David Byrne left Lucan completely shell-shocked.

The Esker Drive outfit did reply with a goal of their own from corner-forward Donal Flannery at the end of a long delivery, but a late free from Ward meant that Old Bawn held a nine-point advantage (4-6 to 1-6) at the interval.

Having already forged a number of comebacks on their way to the final, this was by no means an insurmountable deficit for Lucan to be facing, and they drew first blood after the re-start with Bellew’s second point from play.

Cushion

Old Bawn were in no mood to sit back and invite Lucan on to them, though, and five unanswered scores from Ward (3) and Hudson (2) increased their cushion to 13 with 18 minutes of action remaining.

This was swiftly added to by Old Bawn’s fifth goal of the day from John Redmond, who finished into an empty net after full-forward Hudson had seen his effort come crashing off the crossbar.

This effectively killed off the game as a contest, because even though Bellew contributed his eighth point on 45 minutes, this proved to be Lucan’s final score of the afternoon. A further three-pointer from the outstanding Ward three minutes from time eased Old Bawn over the line.

Scorers – Old Bawn CS: A Hudson 3-2, K Ward 1-8 (0-3f), J Redmond, D
Byrne 1-0 each, D Thorpe, C Murphy 0-1 each. Lucan CC: J Bellew 0-8
(5f), D Flannery 1-0.

OLD BAWN CS: R Nevins; E McGowan, R Deegan, S Burke; L Mackey, V Ogbe,
D Thorpe; C Murphy, C McGrath; D Hanley, K Ward, J Redmond; L Quinn, A
Hudson, D Byrne. Subs: J Seery for Quinn (58), G Swan for Redmond
(58).

LUCAN CC: D O’Neill; M Hanley, N O’Driscoll, P Rigney; K Redmond, A
Shannon, J O’Toole; J Bellew, C Carbery; C Nolan, D Parsons, L Breen;
C Kelly, J Carolan, D Flannery. Subs: T Behan for Breen (46), W Swaine
for Nolan (54).

REFEREE: F McGreevy (St Oliver Plunketts/Eoghan Ruadh).