Return of county players gives AGB a big boost in league win over Tinahely

AGB 2-13

Tinahely 1-11

AGB prevailed after an entertaining encounter with Tinahely in Pearse’s Park on Friday evening in the opening game of the Division 1 A Top 4 league as the return of their U20 county players added more class to an already strong looking home squad who will no doubt consider themselves in a good position heading into the next game of this short league.

The home side opened their scoring with an impressive point from former Wexford footballer Ciarán Lyng. The former St. Martins man’s effort was quickly followed by a JP Hurley free-kick.

Only a few minutes later JP Hurley put a square pass across the box for Tiarnan McBride to run onto. The nippy Arklow half-back palmed the ball into the back of the net to put AGB in a comfortable position after the opening 10 minutes.

Matthew Ging slotted his first point over the bar for the away side in what was to be an impressice tally of scores for the Tinahely man.

AGB kept the upper hand for the majority of the first half but struggled to stay in their somewhat comfortable position for long as the travelling team began to creep back into the match with both sides battlingd hard which made for a close and exciting first-half encounter.

It was the Fine Gael candidate for the Baltinglass LEA in the upcoming local elections, Peter Stapleton, who got Tinahely a much-needed goal off the back of a gallant Maztthew Ging run with three points now sitting between the teams.

However, the joy of the Stapleton goal was short lived as the home side hit back almost instantly with a Darragh Fitzgerald goal after a breathtaking pass from Mark Hurley to Philip Healy was fed into Fitzgerald who fired the ball passed Lillis.

Mark Hurley got himself a deserved score soon after when he linked up well with his brother, JP, to break past the Tinahely defence while the third Hurley brother, Brian, also put in an notable shift for the home side.

Matthew Ging added another two points to the scoreboard from free-kicks, but it was the Gers who finished out the first half with a five-point lead.

Tinahely were both unlucky and disappointed to come away with only a point after what looked to be two certain goal opportunities were brilliantly shut down and blocked by a solid AGB defensive set up while Adam O’Leary also made a good save on his first Senior start in the Arklow nets.

Ging was still able to find ways around the AGB defence, however, as he continued to rain down scores on the home side, proving to be too much at times.

Both teams went down to 14 men after Michael Byrne and former county star Darragh Fitzgerald were awarded black cards as results of two separate incidents.

Alan Lillis in the Tinahely goals did well to clear his lines after he beat Mossy Lynch to a 50/50 ball denying him of a goal-scoring opportunity.

Mossy Lynch however kicked the ball high and over the bar a few moments later to get himself what was a well worked point before Ciarán Lynn got himself an additional point to help the AGB man see out the game.

AGB: Adam O’Leary; Karl Kirwan, Tom Maher, Padraic Bermingham; Tiernan McBride (1-0), Cal Kelly, Chris O’Brien; Mark Hurley (0-2), Tomás Lynch (0-3); Aaron O’ Brien, Ciarán Lyng (0-4), Darragh Fitzgerald (1-0); Philip Healy (0-1), JP Hurley (0-3), Brian Hurley. Subs: Kyle Mills for T. McBride, Conn Kinsella for P. Healy.

Tinahely: Alan Lillis; James Cullen, Michael Byrne, Fionn Furlong; Kevin Mulhall, Adam Hadden, Patrick O’Rourke (0-1); Peter Stapleton (1-0), Daniel Hedderman; Jason Cush, Oisín Gorman, Anthony Phelan; Daniel Ging, Matthew Ging (0-10), Rory Stokes. Subs: James Tyrell for A. Hadden, Gearóid Murphy for D. Hedderman, Seán Murphy for O. Gorman.

Referee: Eddie Leonard (St. Patrick’s)