Pius boys see it home with strong second half surge

By Stephen Leonard

AN EARLY second half goal by Sam Lewis signalled the start of the surge by Scoil Pius X BNS that ultimately propelled them to the Sciath Marino at the expense of Scoil Fhiachra on Tuesday in Croke Park.

With a number of the players on the Terenure side having tasted Cumann na mBunscol football success late last year, they were determined to do it again on the hurling front and, in the end, won out 3-16 to 1-12.

Yet while ten points separated the sides at the final whistle, Pius were made work for their victory particularly in the first half.

Indeed just four points separated the teams at the interval, but Pius soon began to build on that.

Once Lewis batted the ball home, the gates began to open with Oisin Horan twice finding the net while Matthew O’Reilly, Kevin Hogan and Cúan Manning all figured among the point scorers.

There was some excellent defending by Thomas Ryan and Michael Moore while captain Henry Horne led by example with his rock solid performance at half back.

Capturing the title was a great achievement by Pius who have been knocking on the door of a Cumman na mBunscol hurling honour over the past number of years.

Indeed the last time they reached a decider in this code, they were edged out by a solitary point.

Yet they were leaving nothing to chance this time around with a very sound second half performance propelling­ them comfortably over the line in the decider.