Sport

Reilly tips the balance

It was heartbreak for a gallant Causeway Comprehensive at the Limerick Gaelic Grounds yesterday when, seconds from the end of…

Mon Apr 16 2001 - 01:00

It was heartbreak for a gallant Causeway Comprehensive at the Limerick Gaelic Grounds yesterday when, seconds from the end of a titanic battle, Donal Reilly sent over the match-winning point from 50 yards to give St Brigid's victory in the All-Ireland VS senior hurling final.

The Kerry boys had turned over facing into an eight-point deficit at 2-6 to 0-4, but Jeremiah Houlihan helped them to see light at the end of the tunnel with a cracking goal after 48 minutes to leave just two points between the sides.

St Brigid's saw their lead wiped out when Michael Conway and Stephen Power were on target, but with the wind behind them, Causeway were unable to forge ahead and the sides were twice more deadlocked before Reilly came up trumps.

The holders were very slow off the mark when aided by the breeze and had scored just two points from Cahill Dervan and Darren Reilly after 18 minutes.

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Dermot Ryan, who started at half back and then switched to full forward, took the pressure from them when he sent the ball to the net and, just at halftime, Francis Hardiman increased the Kerry lead with a well-executed second goal.

ST BRIGID'S: T Callinan; J Kelly, R Murray, E Holland; D Ryan (1-0), T Regan, K Briscoe; T Tierney, N Cahalan (0-1); Darren Reilly (0-1), K Burke, F Hardiman (1-1); N Healy (0-2), C Dervan (0-4), Donal Reilly (0-1).

CAUSEWAY: T Flynn; J Fitzgerald, E Fitzgerald, N O'Connell; D Bowler, B Harris (0-2), J Griffin; D Young, A Boyle (0-2); R Murphy, F Carroll, S Power (0-1); J Houlihan (1-0), M Conway (0-5), S Goggin (0-1). Sub: S Young (0-1) for Carroll.

Referee: P O'Connor (Limerick).

Tyrone under-21 manager Mickey Harte has demanded that the All-Ireland champions be reinstated to the Ulster series.

Harte reacted furiously to the Ulster Council decision to dump Tyrone out of the competition, just hours before they were due to face Fermanagh in the provincial final.

Fermanagh have now been nominated to go on to represent Ulster in the All-Ireland series, while the champions' season lies in ruins in the wake of the county's foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Harte insisted that the competition should be put on hold until later in the season.