St Itas played Bride Rovers in Junior A Hurling Div 2  League Final on Sunday Oct 9th at 12pm the venue was Carrigtwohill GAA Pitch. Both sides have been promoted to Division 1 and will be part of the 2012 Avondhu/Imokilly Inter-Divisional Junior Hurling League Division 1.

On Sunday morning both teams lined up ready for the throw in, but for some reason the referee had not arrived and throw in was delayed until a replacement ref was found,  by 25 past 12 the replacement ref Brian Murphy threw in the ball. Conditions underfoot were good, the pitch was in excellent order and looking around the field you could see the flags still flying as Carrigtwohill were still proudly celebrating their Senior County win with no rain and a very mild breeze all things pointed to a good game.

From the throw in Brider Rovers were fighting for every ball and Padraig O Driscoll notched up the first point for the Rovers lads.  However Itas started to work the ball a little better and within the first 5 minutes Seamie Harnedy at full forward for Itas had scored 4 unanswered points. Rovers from the puck drove a long ball up the field nad won a 21 yeard free. St Itas lined the goal but with the rovers man standing over the free everyone expecting a straight shot at goal he scooped the ball up to the onrushing number 12 who caught it and struck it home for a goal. this brought both sides level. As the game progressed Rovers were gaining ground and were getting very much on top and Itas were finding it hard to close them down. on the 20 min Eoin Murphy at number 13 collected a ball and passed two Itas players before driving the ball into the Itas net. From the puck Seamie Harnedy collected the ball on the 45 and drove it over the bar leaving Itas 4 points behind. For the next few minutes leading up to half time the sides were evenly matched with Harnedy scoring another 2 points and Rovers another point to leave the side going in at half time St Itas three points down with a score of  7 points to Bride Rovers 2-4.

From the restart Rovers went on the attack and in the first four minutes of play had scored a further 2 goals and a point leavng Itas Shell Shocked and behind by a big margin. Rovers pressed on and scored another point before Alan Loughlin received a red card leaving Itas in an impossible position of being well behind and a man down. But Itas started to play well and with Seamie HArnedy being fouled every time he won possesion it wasnt long before Itas won a 21 yard free. Goalkeeper Padraig O Brien stepped up and drove the ball home giving Itas a glimmer of hope however from the puck out Rovers again scored a point and they followed this up with another before Gerry McCarthy scored his first point of the day. It was very much a see saw affair with rovers matching Itas point for point Beller Cronin got his name on the score sheet before Harnedy added another and in injury time Rovers added a further 2 points before Gerry McCarthy got Itas final score of the day.

The ref blew the final whistle and it was over.  A long year for Itas who did themselves proud by reaching the league final but on the day they were not strong enough to beat Bride Rovers who had played well from the start of the game. The final score was St Itas 1-11 Bride Rovers 4-12

Well done to all the players who put in the effort all year and to our depleated panel of 19 players who finished out the year for St Itas.  Sadly the players we lost as the year went on throught emigration and work proved a step to far for this club who being the smallest in the region found it hard to compete with the bigger clubs, but in fairness compete they did and managed to get to the final stages of the league before succumbing to Rovers.
Both  sides have been promoted to Division 1 and will be part of the 2012 Avondhu/Imokilly Inter-Divisional Junior Hurling League Division 1.

St Itas Panel
Padraig O Brien, Paddy Ahern, Neilus Foley, Finbar Foley, Michael Cunningham, Warren Terry, James Hallorhan, Michael (Beller) Cronin, Don O Rourke, John Hallorhan, Sean Supple, Alan Loughlin, Kevin Cotter, Brian Gaynor, Ciaran O Brien, Shane Supple,Robert Griffin, Gerry McCarthy and Seamus Harnedy.

Selectors: Sean Harnedy, Oliver Loughlin,  & Art Supple
Coach: Martin Welsh
First Aid: Declan Foley

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