Faughs hurlers capture Senior B Championship
By Hayden Moore
FAUGHS manager Joe Cunningham has praised his team’s performance that saw them beat St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruagh 2-18 to 2-8 in the Senior B Hurling Championship Final at Parnell Park on Sunday.
“Playing against the wind in the first half suited our play style, it allowed us to play some proper hurling and move the ball quickly around the field,” Cunningham told The Echo.
Faughs players are overjoyed after winning the Senior B Hurling Championship title
Looking back at their victory over Thomas Davis in the semi-final, Cunningham pinpointed the mistakes made in that clash, he said: “We took the lessons learned from the Thomas Davis game where we went a goal down right at the start, and went really individual, forcing us to play the ball long.
“I knew heading into the Plunkett’s game that if we went out and put on a performance that we would win, and we did,” he said.
A commanding performance from Faughs corner-forward Fergal Heavey saw him tally up a final score of 1-4 as he led his side to glory despite the best efforts of Plunkett’s talisman Stuart Mullen who also chalked up 1-4.
Heavey was a real nuisance for the Plunkett’s backline and he broke the deadlock with a goal after he beat four players before dropping the sliotar onto the ground and smashing it on the half-volley into the roof of the net.
The Ashtown side got their match up and running with a brace of frees from Mullen before the Temple-ogue side responded with a couple of well-worked points from David Croke and Chris Bennett.
Both sides exchanged points and Plunkett’s drew level with a laser-like point from midfielder Niall Murray.
Bennett on free-taking duty punished an undisciplined Plunkett’s side several times and he made the difference as Faughs went into half-time leading 1-9 to 0-6.
Wing-forward Conor O’Shea extended Faughs lead when he netted, but it was cancelled out when the Navan Road men responded with a goal from Sean Clerkin.
Plunkett’s narrowed the deficit to four points when Patrick Bergin dropped a high-ball into the clutches of Mullen in the square and he turned before slotting under Faughs shotstopper, Liam Gleeson.
Faughs put on an excellent display of hooking and blocking that ultimately kept Plunkett’s quiet for the closing 18 minutes of the game with John Prendergast and Emmett McKenna forming a rigid spine in defence.
Bennett was lethal from frees and kept Faughs ticking over before midfielder Neill Bennett put the cherry on top when he blasted over with the final púc of the affair.
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