Na Gael Aeracha vs St. Finians (Swords)
Sunday February 26th, 2:30pm
NGA 2-12 – 3-07 St. Finians

The NGA hurling team kicked off their 2023 League campaign with a home match against St. Finian’s of Swords. This was despite circumstances trying their best to get in our way; between injuries on the panel, injuries to the referee, and the saga of putting up the nets on the goal, even reaching the throw-in was a result in itself!

Due to low numbers on the opposition team, the match began as a 13v13, and when a last-minute recruit was found for St. Finian’s we were able to bring on Cian Hyland after 4 minutes to make it a 14v14 match for the rest of the game. By that point we were already 4 points to no score up, the result of a strong start which saw NGA make their mark on the match. The first half saw us shutting out St. Finians through a strong, organised defence with them having to work for every score they got. At the other end of the pitch, NGA were getting plenty of opportunities to score but weren’t able to get full value from their work. By half-time, NGA were leading St. Finian’s by 6 points to 5; we were also sitting on 13 wides, with St. Finian’s held to only 3 wides.

St. Finian’s changed up their structure in the second half, and it took us by surprise. Within 3 minutes of the restart, St. Finian’s had added 1-2 to the scoreboard and were leading the match 1-7 to 8 points; the sole point for NGA being a free scored by Paul Hanley. The deficit was cut down to one point a few minutes later with Andy Walsh scoring from range, but a second goal for St. Finian’s on the 41-minute mark left us 4 points adrift.

That was the point where NGA pulled together; heads weren’t dropped, focus wasn’t lost, and the cheers from the tremendous support on the sideline only grew louder and stronger. The following ten minutes were dogged, with no inch given and not much movement on the scoreboard. With 6 minutes to go, and St. Finian’s still two points to the good, Andy Walsh stepped forward and struck 1-1 in a 90-second flurry to retake the lead for the first time since the 33rd minute. The last three minutes were as frantic and furious as anything that had come before, with NGA putting away 2-1 and St. Finian’s scoring a consolation goal of their own with the last puck of the game.

The final score was 2-12 to 3-07 to NGA, and the league opened with the perfect start; a good win, showing out strengths at play but with plenty to work on to allow us to improve going forward. The defence gave a great account of themselves, with St. Finian’s held to only 15 scoring opportunities throughout the match. The forward line had 33 scoring

opportunities, converting 14 of them, and the tally of wides is something that will be worked on going forward. Overall, today was a good day for the NGA and we march on to our next fixture with confidence and anticipation.

Starting XV: Martin Farrelly, Ciarán Lyng, Robert Keegan, Adrian Murphy, David Leen, James Hayes, Andy Walsh, Paul Hanley (c), Hugh Kilgannon, Jason Banville, Andy O’Brien, Seán Donegan, Tom Doyle

Subs: Cian Hyland (4’), David Seale (10’ for Rob Keegan), Daniel Lynch (HT for Seán Donegan), Adam Sheehan (37’ for Jason Banville), Rob Keegan (42’ for Adrian Murphy), Kevin Dillon (45’ for Tom Doyle), Adrian Murphy (56’ for Hugh Kilgannon)

Subs Not Played: Stephen Browne

Scorers: Andy Walsh (2-4), Paul Hanley (0-4, 1f), Andy O’Brien (0-3, 1f), David Leen (0-1)

POTM: Andy Walsh