Bruff score thrilling victory over Blackrock in Limerick premier intermediate hurling championship

“A HUGELY satisfying result but we just got over the line. We made it difficult for ourselves with all those wides as well as those second-half frees we conceded.”

Manager Mossie Boddy was tempering joy with relief as Bruff's premier intermediate hurlers re-ignited their championship campaign by making it two wins out of three in the group stages when scoring a 2-17 to 2-14 victory over Blackrock in Kilmallock's Fitzgerald Park on Friday evening.

Although it took a fortunate goal from a long-distance free just into injury time for Bruff to finally escape from the clutches of their pursuers, they wouldn't have found themselves in such a precarious position had they not rattled off a huge tally of 23 wides over the course of the hour.

More economical with their shooting and getting one goal right at the start and a second just after the break just when their opponents looked like re-imposing their second-quarter dominance, Blackrock hung on like leeches and threatened to overtake them with a late push that just came up short of restoring their lead.

But despite the best efforts of Jimmy Quilty driving them forward from the middle and former county star Richie McCarthy wreaking havoc around the goalmouth, the Rockies were being shaded in too many positions to rattle the Stars' composure under pressure.

Although Chris Browne got Bruff off the mark with a point, they then missed a few chances before a long delivery was plucked from the air by McCarthy who was then dragged back for Paudie Leahy to bury the penalty for a Blackrock goal.

The Stars' reply on the scoreboard was delayed by some more misses but, when they rediscovered their accuracy, Pa Finn, and Seán Finn had them level with points before Josh Keating's free put them ahead. McCarthy then replied with a point for the Rockies only to be cancelled out immediately by another Keating free.

Play got bogged down around the middle as it was punctuated by frequent stoppages before Blackrock found some inspiration for Shane Lyons and McCarthy to put them back in front with points.

However, when Bruff finally found their stride in sight of the posts, a Seán Finn point, and further scores from a Owen Meaney's free, Finn again and Micheál O'Riordan eased them back into the driving seat.

A flurry just before the break saw Colm O'Keeffe and Seán O'Neill replying for the Ballyhoura men and Keating's free being cancelled out by a Quilty score before another Keating pointed free and a Paul O'Riordan free sent Bruff into the dressing-room with a lead of 0-12 to 1-6.

After O'Keeffe and Keating swapped pointed frees at the start of the second half, Bruff's profligacy came back to bite them when a Leahy point was followed by Quilty collecting on the burst and burying the sliotar on turn past Eric Finn's reach for a well-taken goal.

Blackrock's lead held through four minutes of their opponents adding to their wide tally before the reply came in spectacular fashion as Sean Finn scorched up the centre past several challenges before offloading to Micheál O'Riordan who drove to the net for a terrific goal.

Bruff kept their noses in front then as Leahy's point in reply was followed by Keating and O'Keeffe twice matching frees and Quilty cancelling out Finn's point with a score from play before another O'Keeffe free drew the sides level with five regulation minutes to go.

But the Rockies' joy wasn't to last.

After Keating replied with a pointed free, Meaney followed him with another point from all of 95 metres which floated down from the evening sun into the Blackrock square past the out-stretched blindsided hurleys and into the top corner of their net.

The Ardpatrick club tried to reply, an O'Keeffe pointed free left just a goal between the sides but, try as they might, the all-hands-to-the-deck final assault failed to pierce the Bruff defence before referee John O'Halloran called time.

SCORERS: BRUFF: Josh Keating 0-8 (8 frees), Seán Finn 0-4, Owen Meaney (2 frees), Micheál O'Riordan 1-1 each, Chris Browne, Pa Finn, Paul O'Riordan 0-1 each; BLACKROCK: Colm O'Keeffe 0-7 (6 frees), Paudie Leahy 1-2 (1-0 penalty), Jimmy Quilty 1-1, Richie McCarthy 0-2, Shane Lyons, Seán O'Neill 0-1 each.

BRUFF: Eric Finn; Pa Finn, Colin Madden, Owen Meaney; Kevin Bonner, Seán Finn, Seán Casey; Paul Browne, Gavin Bracken; Micheál O'Riordan, Chris Browne, Paul O'Riordan; Darragh Butler, Danny O'Leary, Josh Keating. SUBS: Seán Murnane for Darragh Butler (37 minutes), Bradley McNamara for Micheál O'Riordan (48 minutes).

BLACKROCK: Richie Murphy; Ian O'Brien' Daithí Heffernan, Simon Hennessy; Ciarán Considine, Jimmy Quilty, Callan Ensor; Paudie Leahy, Shane Lyons; Fionn Heffernan, Colm O'Keeffe, Seán O'Neill; Ruairí O'Shaughnessy, Richie McCarthy, Liam Walsh. SUBS: Dave Moloney for Ciarán Considine (injured, 30 minutes), Barry O'Shaughnessy for Fionn Heffernan (half-time), Aidan Gilligan for Ruairí O'Shaughnessy (58 minutes).

REFEREE: John O'Halloran (Bruree).