Lismore 2-14 Ballyduff Upper 0-16 - SHC Round 2

Lismore were in firm control from the early stages of this local derby to claim their second win of the championship on a blustery evening at Fraher Field.
After only thirteen seconds Lismore found the net through Peter O’Keeffe after Chris O’Gorman sliced through the Ballyduff defence. Two further points followed before the Reds rallied. Stephen Molumphy led the charge with Brendan Hannon accurate from frees to make it 1-3 to 0-5. Then a Lismore blitz saw them surge ten points clear. With the half back line giving them an ideal platform the forwards ran riot. Dan Shanahan and Paudie Prendergast claimed three points each with Terence Walsh blasting home their second goal. The Ballyduff full back line was in all sorts of trouble with Shanahan and he should have claimed a goal of his own but his weak shot tailed wide. Lismore held a 2-9 to 0-7 lead at half time.
Ballyduff slowly came back into contention after the restart but sloppy passes and a lack of cutting edge up front undermined their efforts. Brendan Hannon fired over six more placed balls but scores from play were hard to come by. Stephen Molumphy also did all in his powers to rally the troops but they couldn’t get within striking distance. Paudie Prendergast added three more points in the second period, two from frees and one from play, to cap a fine evening for this promising youngster. Ballyduff’s last chance fell to goalkeeper Adrian Power from a 21 metre free but his effort was well saved by Brendan Landers.
With Maurice Shanahan absent this was a morale boosting win for Lismore. Captain Dan Shanahan led from the front winning a tough duel with Tom Molumphy. Young players like Ray Barry, Paudie Prendergast and Peter O’Keeffe also made vital contributions. Their first half performance blew away a Ballyduff side that didn’t come near the levels they reached in the opening round. The only sour note for the victors was the injury that Shane Kearney sustained with minutes remaining which appeared to be a serious knee injury. Remarkably there wasn’t even a stretcher on hand to remove the player from the field. For a senior championship game higher standards should be implemented for the safety of players.

Scorers:- Lismore: P. Prendergast 0-6 (4f), T. Walsh 1-1, D. Shanahan 0-3, R. Barry 0-3 (3f), P. O’Keeffe 1-0, C. O’Gorman 0-1.
Ballyduff Upper: B. Hannon 0-11 (9f, 1 65), S. Molumphy 0-2, J.Twomey 0-1, B. Kearney 0-1, S. Kearney 0-1.

Lismore: B. Landers, S. Bennett, M. Coleman, S. Heaphy, J. Prendergast, S. Kearney, E. Bennett, C. O’Gorman, D. O’Gorman, P. Prendergast, D. Howard, R. Barry, T. Walsh, D. Shanahan, P. O’Keeffe.
Subs: P. Fennessy, T. O’Brien.

Ballyduff Upper: A. Power, P. Molumphy, T. Molumphy, M. McNamara, T. Feeney, S. Hannon, M. Kearney, J. Twomey, G. Feeney, B. Kearney, J. Kearney, S. Kearney, B. Hannon, S. Molumphy, K. Casey.
Subs: S. Cunningham, J. Hannon.