The Brian Dillons Junior (B) Hurlers, who were missing quite a few prominent players, produced a courageous performance before going under to a fancied Mayfield side in the quarter-final of the City Division Junior (B) Hurling Championship, which was played in Ballinlough on Saturday evening, 10th August,2013.  The final score was; Mayfield,(B),0-16; Brian Dillons (B),1-11;

                 Forced to line out without Kevin Varian, Tommy Boland and Ken McCarthy, all injured, as well as Dave Whelan and Ciarain Kelleher, who are away on holidays, the understrength Brian Diillons team made the stronger Mayfield side, which included several of their prominent first team players who had missed their two losses in the (A) Championship, work hard for their victory. In fact, if the Brian Dillons inside forward line had  received a little more of the ball in the closing five minutes, they could well have snatched the match winning goal. Instead of delivering in the ball, the outfield Brian Dillons players persisted in the short handpassing game around the middle of the park which invariably brokedown when intercepted by the opposing players. The sensible ploy, at that stage of the game ,was to strike the ball into the Mayfield goalmouth as the Brian Dillons full -forward line had been causing all sort of problems to the Mayfield last line of defence.

              The opening half of the game was tentative enough with Mayfield benefitting from the lack of discipline by the Brian Dillons defence, which was punished by six points from placed balls, which had Mayfield ahead ,0-10 to 0-7, at the interval.  The second half saw a much more spirited performance from the Brian Dillons side and with Dylan O"Donoghue giving a "Man of the Match" performance, at midfield, John O"Herlihy, as dependable as ever between the posts, and

 Derek McDonnell and Dave Cremin playing out of their skin in defence, they gave Mayfield some anxious moments before the end.. After ten minutes of the second half had elapsed Mayfield, with four further points from placed balls, were ahead by 0-14 to 0-10 with the Brian Dillons second half points coming from Dylan O"Donoghue (two) and James Horgan.

 In the sixteenth minute of the second half, Brian Dillons found themselves only a point ahead when their experienced full-forward, James Horgan, who had been a threat to the Mayfield defence all through, smashed the ball to the back of the net for a great goal..... 0-14 to 1-10.

  Brian Dillons were in command of the game , at this stage, and three minutes later, the sides were level when, once again, James Horgan , when heading for goal was fouled and he duly pointed the resultant free....1-11 to 0-14. The final ten minutes of the game produced only two further scores, both for Mayfield, one with nine minutes left, which was their only score from play in the second half, and the other from a free with seven minutes left.  With time running out, Brian Dillons badly needed a score, but the persistence of their outfield players not delivering the ball into the Mayfield "square", was to prove their downfall. Continuing to play around with the ball outfield led to many turnovers by some of the more experienced Mayfield players, who had missed their "A" teams Championship exit earlier in the season.  At the finish it was 0-16 to 1-11 , in favour of Mayfield, but full credit to Brian Dillons for producing a spirited performance with an understrength fifteen. Scorers for Brian Dillons were; James Horgan, 1-5 (0-4 frees); Dylan O"Donoghue, 0-5 (0-2 frees); and Cian Crowley,0-1;     The Brian Dillons team lined out as follows; (1) John O"Herlihy; (2) Stephen Kearney; (3) Derek McDonnell; (4) James Varian; (5) Dave Cremin ; (6) Darren McGrath;(7) Cian Crowley; (8) Dylan O"Donoghue; (9) Michael Colohan; (10) Shane Maher; (11) Stephen Kelly; (12) Edmund Hussey; (13) Eric O"Donoghue; (14) James Horgan; (15) Damian Horgan ; Subs; Eoin Hennessy for Shane Maher , injured (30 mins); Kieran Delaney for Stephen Kelly (45 mins);