Craobh Rua 3-12 Killeavy 1-9
Craobh Rua were crowned the Junior Champions on Sunday afternoon following a strong display against rivals Killeavy.
A goal inside the first four minutes of the game handed the eventual winners an early advantage and they never looked back.
It was Conor McKevitt who rattled the net early on, while the accuracy of Tiarnan O’Hare kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Killeavy relied heavy on David Grant for scores and the captain top scored on the day for his side with 0-8.
O’Hare got the game up and running inside the opening minute before McKevitt struck the first goal of the game.
Killeavy’s David Grant traded frees with O’Hare (two) while Ronan Casey also got on the scores sheet for the Camlough side.
Shea Gregory closed the gap for Killeavy before their keeper was once again picking the ball out of the back of the net.
23 minutes had past when Craobh Rua rattled home their second goal with Ryan Lewis the man on the end of it this time.
Grant stuck another two frees, split by a dead ball effort from O’Hare, to leave Craobh Rua ahead 2-5 to 0-5 at the break.
Ryan Lewis added to his growing tally with a point, as did Man of the Match Tiarnan O’Hare while Killeavy were handed a lifeline at the other end of the field.
A foul in the Craobh Rua defence saw their opponents awarded a penalty and Adam Matthews smashed the ball past the keeper to pull the margin back to five.
Two points in quick succession from O’Hare and Fionnan Burns quashed any hope of a comeback while the game was beyond reach with the next score.
A free from O’Hare made it way into the Killeavy net and the Camlough side were now ten points to the good entering the last 10 minutes.
Grant and O’Hare once again cancelled each other out with two points each while Grant also exchanged points with Ryan Lewis.
Lewis grabbed the final score of the day in the dying few minutes to hand his side an impressive nine-point win.
Craobh Rua were the better side on the day and deserving winners of the 2020 Junior Hurling Championship.
Craobh Rua Scorers: Tiarnan O’Hare (1-7), Ryan Lewis (1-3), Conor McKevitt (1-0), Ronan Casey (0-1), Fionnan Burns (0-1).
Killeavy Scorers: David Grant (0-8), Adam Matthews (1-0), Shea Gregory (0-1).
