Clough Ballacolla rejoice and claim 2020 Laois senior hurling title

2020 LAOIS SENIOR HURLING FINAL

CLOUGH BALLACOLLA 1-22

BORRIS KILCOTTON 1-17

Clough-Ballacolla are the 2020 Laois senior hurling champions after the delayed hurling showpiece was played on Saturday night in O'Moore Park.

Stephen 'Picky' Maher was the star of the show with 13 points while the evergreen Willie Dunphy chipped in with four points. Wing forward Robbie Phelan hit the all important goal in the opening half and to be fair, there can be no doubting their dominance on the evening.

With conditions tough under foot, both teams found that their scores would come hard earned in the opening stages. That said, we only had to wait 20 seconds for the opening score of the game from Borris Kilcotton sharpshooter PJ Scully.

At the other end, it was the Stephen Maher show. He equalised in the third minute and as the teams went score for score, Maher was the man shooting the lights out down at the Abbeyleix end.

Aaron Dunphy and PJ Scully (free) but Borris Kilcotton 0-3 to 0-2 up after 10 minutes but once again it was Maher who found the range to level again.

Aaron Dunphy fired over his second on 13 minutes to regain the lead but Clough Ballacolla went in 0-5 to 0-4 ahead at the water break thanks to Stephen Maher who pucked all of their opening five scores.

It was a tight and physical encounter and one that neither side was willing to shy away from.

PJ Scully restored parity on 18 minutes with a close range free as the sky above O'Moore Park began to brighten up. Clough Ballacolla then began to open up some daylight between the sides with Robbie Phelan coming to the fore.

He knocked over a point on 20 minutes and after Stephen Maher added another free, Phelan cut through the middle of the Borris Kilcotton defence and found the net past Eoin Fleming in the goals to make it 1-7 to 0-6 after 23 minutes.

Borris Kilcotton never let them pull away too far though and after Scully pointed a free from inside his own half  and a monster effort from Matthew Whelan, they trailed 1-8 to 0-8.

Clough Ballacolla looked to have a bit more cut about them up front and with Stephen Maher to the fore, the Laois forward added another free to push it out to a four point game.

Borris Kilcotton, crucially, had a purple patch before the break and Aaron Dunphy's third of the day along with a PJ Scully free with the last puck of the half left it a two point game at the break - 1-9 to 0-10.

Clough Ballacolla made a good start to the second half and went four up with another Maher free and a super individual effort from Robbie Phelan.

PJ Scully replied but Clough Ballacolla now looked the slicker outfit and two more frees from the man of the moment Stephen Maher had them 1-13 to 0-11 in front on 38 minutes.

Aaron Dunphy hit his fourth of the evening for the Borris men before a long range effort from Niall Coss and a superb sideline cut from PJ Scully suddenly had the game back to a three point game on 41 minutes.

But once again, that extra bit of class from Clough Ballacolla shone through as they pulled away again. By the water break they moved six clear - 1-17 to 0-14 with Robbie Phelan bringing his tally to 1-3 while Willie Dunphy and Stephen Maher also tagged on more scores to their personal accounts.

This time, they kept the hammer down and Willie Dunphy's rousing score under the stand brought his tally to four and the gap to seven.

PJ Scully did add a couple of frees but as the game came into the final 10 minutes, Clough Ballacolla looked home and hosed as a Jordan Walshe score and another free from Maher left them eight clear.

Borris-Kilcotton got it back to six points before a wonder score from Stephen Bergin, moments before he was taken off, rallied the Clough Ballacolla crowd.

Borris-Kilcotton were given a fighters chance in the final few minutes when PJ Scully struck a penalty to the roof of the net on 58 minutes to bring it back to a four point game but an injury time '65' from man of the match Stephen Maher settled the nerves as Clough Ballacolla were deserving winners of the 2020 senior hurling championship.

CLOUGH BALLACOLLA

Scorers: Stephen Maher 0-13 (0-8 frees and 0-1 '65'), Robbie Phelan 1-3, Willie Dunphy 0-4, Stephen Bergin and Jordan Walshe 0-1 each.

Team: Cathal Dunne, Diarmuid Conway, Darren Maher, Eoin Doyle; Brian Corby, Michael McEvoy, Lee Cleere; Willie Hyland, Aidan Corby; Robbie Phelan, Jordan Walshe, Mark Hennessy; Stephen Bergin, Willie Dunphy, Stephen Maher. Subs: John Dwyer for Mark Hennessy (46), Canice Coonan for Stephen Bergin (56), Sean Corby for Lee Cleere (60), Kevin Mulhall for Jordan Walshe (60)

BORRIS-KILCOTTON

Scorers:m PJ Scully 1-10 (0-7 frees, 0-2 S/L cuts, 1-0 pen) Aaron Dunphy 0-4, Matthew Whelan, Niall Coss and Joseph Campion 0-1 each.

Team: Eoin Fleming; Stephen Finan, Enda Parlon, James Fitzpatrick; Niall Coss, Matthew Whelan, Patrick Whelan; Conor Kilbane, Joseph Campion; Aaron Dunphy, Neil Foyle, Colm Stapleton; Daire Quinlan, PJ Scully, Dean Carey. Subs: Emmet Jones for Daire Quinlan (ht), Daniel Fitzpatrick for Conor Kilbane (37), Stephen Dunphy for Dean Carey (47)

REFEREE: Padraig Dunne

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