Brendan Davis Cup Hurling, Semi Final

Full Time: Trim 3-19 (28pts) ; Kildalkey 2-23 (29pts)

The new Hurling rules came into force on 28th March and at times, during the course of this match, it seemed there was more emphasis on the rules rather on the game itself. In the end, the result was overshadowed by a serious injury sustained by Trim’s David Murtagh who had to be stretchered off with a bad knee injury . So much for the rules pertaining to injury management where players must leave the field of play, presumably, by their own efforts and in the spirit of the Rules.   

The game itself was a typical tough and entertaining affair between these two great rivals but the home side were left scratching their heads when the opposition went ahead for the very first time with the last play of the game, and nine minutes and twenty five seconds deep into injury time.

Trim began in blistering style with Daniel Murray turning his marker, which became a feature of this game until he limped off halfway through the second half, and firing an unstoppable shot to the back of David Harmon’s net. A minute later the same Daniel Murray was upended in the parallelogram and brother James obliged from the resultant penalty. Conor Quigley added another point to the score before Nicky Potterton had Kildalkey’s opening score.

The scoring continued at a breathtaking pace and after David Murtagh had Trim’s next score, the visitors had four unanswered efforts to keep the game within their reach. James Murray converted a free before Kildalkey had three more unanswered scores to leave the bare minimum between the sides. A similar effort from Trim, James Murray (2) and Daniel Fox (1), widened the margin once more but, again, Kildalkey matched those efforts and with one of those scores coming from a ball that was moved in by the new thirty metres rule for dissent, as deemed by referee. 

Dissent, another powerful tool in the Rules arsenal, is described by Google as ‘a strong public or formal disagreement with official decisions’. However, in a Sports context it is arguing with a referee or protesting their decision, with no emphasis on the degree of argument, strong or otherwise.

There were further Trim points from Ian Birmingham, James Murray, Eoghan Ryan, and a second Daniel Murray goal before the half time whistle sounded. In between Kildalkey had eight conversions mostly from the stick of Nicky Potterton, one of which being another dissent penalisation.

Half Time: Trim 3-9; Kildalkey 0-16 

Trim resumed with three unanswered points from David Murtagh, James Murray, and James Andrews. However, Kildalkey’s opening point from Niall McNally was followed by a Kelvin Lynch goal to, once again, reduce Trim’s advantage to a minimum. A further spell of Trim scoring was matched by Kildalkey’s second goal from Paddy Conneeley with the home side protesting for a free that they felt they deserved at the other end of the field. 

With the clock ticking near to full time James Murray converted two Trim frees, one of which was for the challenge that left David Murtagh writhing in great pain and which, otherwise, went unpunished.

George Douglas added another point for Trim three minutes into injury time and the feeling was that this would clinch the game for the home side. However, the referee had already indicated that there would be at least seven minutes of injury time as he had stopped his watch for each stoppage that had occurred. Niall McNally pulled another one back for Kildalkey before two late frees were converted by Nicky Potterton. However, the drama hadn’t ended there and Nicky Potterton had the last say in the tenth minute of injury time just as everyone present were wondering how extra time would be possible in the fading light.

Trim’s next match, on Sunday next, April 12th, in St Lomans Park at 11am, is Round 2 of the League

Trim: Eoin O’Reilly, Darragh McLoughlin, Gary Fleming, Danny Coleman, Cathal O’Reilly, Eoghan Ryan (0-1), Conor Quigley (0-1), Mark Molloy, David Murtagh (0-2), James Andrews (0-1), James Murray (1-10), 1-0 pen, 0-8f), George Douglas (0-1), Daniel Murray (2-1), Ian Birmingham (0-1),Daniel Fox (0-1).

Subs (used): Oisin Hackett, Josh Ayton, Ruairi McCaffrey.