Rathnure 1-6 Barntown 2-0

Barntown and Rathnure both truly experienced the highs and lows that come with any final when they battled it out for this year’s Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League MiniSevens Hurling title. Barntown saw their excellent work come undone when Rathnure turned the game on its head in the second half.

Before the match, both teams impressively spent some time on hooking and blocking and this was reflected in an intensely competitive final. Wides were exchanged in the opening minutes before Luke Codd pointed a free to put Rathnure in the lead. Barntown then exploded into life with two quickfire goals. The first came when Sean Cooney cleverly hit the ball into the ground for a neat finish from distance. Seconds later, Aaron Nolan put Cooney through on goal with a neat ground stroke and another calm finish put Barntown goal into a five points lead.

Rathnure came out for the second half with a completely different attitude. A belter of free from David Cooney Browne nearly burst the net and put his team back in the running. Moments later, he almost had a second goal but instead he kicked a loose ball over the crossbar for a point. Another Luke Codd free levelled the game to ensure some late drama.

The inspirational score of the evening came from Luke Codd. After a forty yard dash out the field he dispossessed a Barntown defender, won the dirty ground ball and stuck it over the bar. Such a great score from out on the sideline and under the stand was much to the delight of the Rathnure supporters. Now chasing the game, Barntown pressed on but their ill discipline was punished once more when Luke Codd put over his third free of the game.

Meanwhile at the other end of the field, Rathnure defenders, Donal Wickham and captain Harry Codd ensured that Barntown got no further chances to get back into the game. One more point from David Cooney Byrne saw Rathnure finish as winners by three points in the end.

If ever there was a game to prove that finals are never over at halftime, this was it.

Rathnure: Tomas Guiney, Donal Wickham, Harry Codd, Oisin Byrne, David Cooney Browne, Luke Codd, Eamonn Wickham, Michael Gregory, Nicholas Martin, Kian O’Leary, Stephen Reilly, Conor O’Neill, Cathal Ryan, Dennis Lambert, Brian O’Neill, JJ Redmond

Barntown: Patrick Berry, Fionn O’Callaghan, Callum McDonald, Ben Redmond, Will Hayes, Aaron Nolan, Sean Cooney, Kevin Rowe, Jack Sinnott, Rory Gallagher, Adam Dempsey, Paddy O’Leary