The Brian Dillons Junior (A) Hurlers marched proudly into the Cork County Junior (A) Hurling Championship final with a thrilling one point victory over Grenagh in the semi-final ,which was played in Ballincollig on Saturday, 6th October,2012m  The final score was; Brian Dillons, 0-14; Grenagh, 0-13.

               Played in glorious sunshine,this game was a thrilling affair from start to finish, with Brian Dillons surviving a late Grenagh rally to emerge narrow winners after a great hours hurling.    Grenagh opened promisingly with the opening three points in the first six minutes and to add to Brian Dillons woes, the usually reliable John Horgan was off-target from two scoreable frees during that period.  However, Brian Dillons did , eventually, get off the mark when John Horgan pointed a free in the seventh minute.  Another John Horgan pointed free narrowed the gap, in the tenth minute and the same player levelled the scores with a beauty from play,two minutes later.  Brian Dillons went ahead for the first time, after thirteenth minutes, with a good Cian McCarthy point and Cillian Brosnan increased the lead with a spectacular point, five minutes later. Grenagh responded with two further points of their own to leave the sides level, 0-5 each, after twenty minutes. Brian Dillons were hurling well at this stage and three further points from John Horgan, two from frees and one from a "65, with Grenagh responding with a point , left the half-time score reading, Brian Dillons, 0-8; Grenagh, 0-6.  It was a tight first half hour and all the indications pointed to this game going down to the wire.

             Brian Dillons increased their lead with a fine point from play , from John Horgan, after two minutes of the second-half but, Grenagh reduced the arrears with a pointed free,three minutes later.  Two further pointed frees from John Horgan, one a massive strike from 75 yards,, had Brian Dillons four points clear after seven minutes of the second-half. However,four minutes later ,Grenagh pointed to leave them three points in arrears but then followed a definite period of Brian Dillons dominance which resulted in points coming from Tomas Lawrence, and John Horgan,from a free to push them ahead,0-13 to 0-8, after 42 minutes.  A minute later Grenagh added another point  but, after 46 minutes, Brian Dillons restored their five point cushion when Tomas Lawrence scored his second point and it looked at this stage that victory was in sight.     Amazingly,Brian Dillons failed to score in the final fourteen minutes while Grenagh picked off a further four points to leave the minumum between the sides with still seven minutes remaining.   It was nail-biting stuff as both teams missed scoring opportunities with Grenagh being handed a great chance of salvaging the game when they forced a "65 in added time. Fortunately,for Brian Dillons, Cork Senior player,Tom Kenny, was off target from the "65 and the full-time whistle sounded after Tom Triggs" puck-out and Brian Dillons were back in the County final for the first since 1965.

              There were several outstanding performers in this Brian Dillons victory. The defence, once again, performed heroically with Danny Murphy, Daniel McCormick and Mark White being particularly prominent. Tomas Lawrence, once again, showed what a fine player he is with another powerful performance at midfield and he also managed to pop over two wonderful points. Cillian Brosnan , back in the team after his holiday, added much needed physicallity to the attack while Brian Barrett"s aerial dominance led to a number of frees ,which John Horgan converted. However, the fact that no score was added in the final 14 minutes of the game, must be a source of concern to the team Management, ahead of the final, which is fixed for Sunday.21st October,2012, in Pairc Ui Rinn when the winners of the Kildorrery .v. Kilbrin will provide the opposition.

          The Brian Dillons scorers were; John Horgan,0-10,(0-7 frees, 0-1 "65 ) Tomas Lawrence,0-2; Cian McCarthy and Cillian Brosnan,0-1 each.

              Team; (1) Tom Triggs,Captain; (2) Maurice Carey; (3) Danny Murphy; (4) Michael Noonan; (5) Daniel McCormick; (6) Mark White; (7) Darragh Brosnan;(8) Tomas Lawerence; (9) Cian McCarthy; (10) Keith McCormick; (11) Cillian Brosnan; (12) Brian Barrett; (13) John Noonan; (14) John Horgan; (15) Philip O"Brien;     Subs; Kevin Coughlan for John Noonan (28 mins,) Martin Corbett for Keith McCormick (57 mins.)