Drom off to a flyer in impressive win over Templederry Kenyons

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship - Round 1

Drom & Inch 2-30

Templederry Kenyons 2-19

Drom & Inch bounced back emphatically from their Mid final loss to JK Brackens two weekends ago to comfortably swat aside a poor Templederry Kenyons effort in the first round of the senior county hurling championship in Borris-Ileigh earlier this evening.

A very assertive first half performance laid the foundation for Drom here where the mid men had far too much of a free run on the Templederry defence, with all but two points of their first half tally of 1-16 coming from play, with Jamie Moloney supplying the goal with a very tidy finish.

In a group that looked tough from the moment the draw was made from a Templederry perspective, has now become an even tougher assignment as they were taught a real lesson here, and while they never gave up the ghost, they never really looked like bringing themselves back into the contest in the end.

That was despite a pretty decent opening to the game, as despite Drom opening the scoring with the first two points of the day through Podge and John Campion, Templederry struck for the first goal through a very tidy Matthew Hogan finish, as he broke onto a deflected long ball coming off Sean Ryan to bare down on goal and score.

They led 1-1 to 0-2 after four minutes, but it was very short-lived, as a mere 30 seconds later the ball was down the field in the back of the Templederry net, with Jamie Molonye gathering possession on the 45 before cutting straight down the centre of the Kenyons defence to finish low past Tim McCutcheon.

It was as close as Templederry would be on the score-line all night, as a well drilled Drom team clicked into gear and rattled over seven points in a row between the fifth and the 13th minute, with Seamie Callanan, Fintan Purcell, Tommy Nolan, Jamie Moloney, and John Campion all providing the service on the scoreboard.

Éanna Murray pointed in the 15th minute from a free to get some sort of purchase on the game from a Templederry perspective, but they were really struggling in every area, as the Drom intensity of movement had the north men all at sea.

Murray and Callanan traded a few frees going into the final ten minutes of the half, but Drom were getting way more joy from play, moving the ball really well through the lines, with good scores from play being provided by Callanan, Purcell, and John Campion once again, and just after Gearoid Ryan got his first of the day in the 22nd minute, the score had Drom in the lead 1-13 to 1-5.

But Templederry kept positive, and provided a moment that looked like it might give them some much needed spark, with a lovely cross field ball from Matthew Hogan in the left corner forward position finding Sean Ryan in acres of space on the 21-yard line, and he made no mistake from close range to bounce a low shot off the ground into the back of the Drom net to cut the gap, amazingly, to just five points with five to go in the half.

However, this didn’t faze Drom in the slightest, and they finished the half scoring three of the final four points to give themselves a very advantageous lead of 1-16 to 2-6 at the break.

Templederry needed to up their efforts considerably at the start of the second half, but Drom were in no mood to give their opponents any hope, as Seamie Callanan had another point splitting the posts within 18 seconds of the restart.

Sean Ryan was being starved of service, and any time the ball went his direction in the first half he had very close company from marker Emmet Moloney, along with Drom’s spare man in Stevie Nolan, but Ryan and Murray did score the next few points to re-establish their scoring threat a minute later.

The effort certainly was upped from the Kenyons, with scores from Adrian Ryan and two Éanna Murray frees bringing them back to five points in the 37th minute, but Drom always had a rebuttal with the bench making an impact through Johnny Ryan who had two points in the space of five minutes, while Callanan and Robbie Long found their range by the 42nd minute to extend Drom’s lead.

The killer blow was delivered by Drom in the 46th minute, when Jamie Moloney went on one of his numerous powerful runs down the flank of the Templederry defence, before offloading to Callanan inside the 21, and when he gets space like this, he won’t be stopped and the former Hurler of the Year finished with ease to finish the game in all but name to give his side a commanding 2-23 to 2-13 lead.

As definitive as that goal was, Templderry still tried to plough on and bring the scoreline down before the end of the game, but Drom now had the luxury of emptying their bench to give them fresh energy, and with Johnny Ryan, Callanan, and sub Davy Butler all adding to their tally, they outscored Templederry from here to record a comprehensive eleven point win which gives them a brilliant start to their county championship campaign.

Scorers: Drom & Inch: Seamus Callanan (1-9, 0-5f); Jamie Moloney 1-1; John Campion, Tommy Nolan 0-4 each; Johnny Ryan 0-3; Podge Campion, Fintan Purcell, Robbie Long all 0-2 each; Mikey Connors, Liam Ryan, Davy butler all 0-1 each.

Templederry Kenyons: Éanna Murray (0-7, 0-5f); Sean Ryan 1-3; Matthew Hogan 1-0; Gearoid Ryan, Brian Stapleton 0-3 each; Darragh Carey, Adrian Ryan, Odhran Murphy all 0-1 each.

Drom & Inch: David Collins; Emmet Moloney, Liam Ryan, Kevin Hassett; Fintan Purcell, Podge Campion, Stevie Nolan; John Campion, Robbie Long; Lorcan Campion, Jamie Moloney, Seamus Callanan; Mikey Connors, David Collins, Tommy Nolan.

Subs: Michael Campion for L Ryan; Johnny Ryan for L Campion; Jack Lillis for Connors; Maidhc Fitzpatrick for E Moloney; David Butler for D Collins.

Templederry Kenyons: Tim McCutcheon; Mikey Ryan, Christy Coughlan, Tadgh McLoughlin; Liam McCutcheon, Darragh Carey, Tom Stapleton; Odhran Murphy, Brian Stapleton; Gearoid Ryan, Eanna Murray, Sean Ryan; Adrian Ryan, Matthew Hogan, Padraig O’Leary.

Subs: Colm Murray for É Murray; Michael Ryan for O’Leary.