Clough-Ballacolla cruise past Abbeyleix in Senior Hurling Championship opener
The game was played in Colt GAA
Clough-Ballacolla have started their 2024 Laois Shopping Centre Senior Hurling Championship campaign with a dominant victory over last year’s beaten finalists Abbeyleix.
The sides met in Colt for their first round fixture, and from the off it looked as though there was only going to be one winner as Clough-Ballacolla were mightily impressive.
Clough-Ballacolla 0-31
Abbeyleix St Lazarian’s 2-14
Willie Dunphy starred for the 2022 champions as he slotted into midfield alongside fellow county player Aidan Corby and slotted five points from play in a trademark all action performance.
After a frantic opening five minutes Dunphy slotted the opening scores to set the tone for the evening and Clough-Ballacolla took off from there, as they raced five ahead midway through the half.
Abbeyleix battled back with scores from Eoghan Fennelly, Cormac Byrne and Colm Walsh but the gap remained five at the break as Picky Maher, Sean Corby and Stephen Bergin were amongst the scorers for Clough-Ballacolla.
The sides traded scores early in the second half with Sean Corby, Stephen Bergin, Dunphy, Cormac Hogan and Picky on target for Clough-Ballacolla while Eoghan Fennelly struck four for Abbeyleix.
Fennelly then gave Abbeyleix a lifeline when he fired home after a powering run from Cormac Byrne to make it a four point game with 15 minutes left. Abbeyleix were unable to build on that however as Clough-Ballacolla would hit the next six scores on the trot to take the game out of sight and claim the first victory in this year’s Senior Hurling Championship.