The Brian Dillons Junior (B) Hurlers bowed out of the 2012 City Division Junior (B) Hurling Championship,at the semi-final stage, when they were well-beaten by County finalists, Rathpeacon,on a 1-14 to 0-6 scoreline, which was played in Ballinlough on Sunday morning, 19th August 2012.

                      This was a most disappointing performance by the Brian Dillons side ,especially after their impressive victories, in the earlier rounds ,over Douglas and Nemo Rangers. Right from the start they struggled to get into the game with their first touch letting them down repeatedly in the opening half. Maybe it was because of the fact that they did not have a hurling game for over six weeks, their last game was on 6th July, but, this was a truly miserable performance. Rathpeacon,who have been in regular hurling action recently in their run to the County Junior (B) Championship final, looked much sharper  and after 15 minutes they had raced into a 0-5 to nil lead. It took 16 minutes for Brian Dillons to get their first score when James Horgan pointed from a free. Rathpeacon added another two points, from placed balls, before James Horgan scored a point ,from play, for Brian Dillons to leave the half-time score reading; Rathpeacon, 0-7; Brian Dillons, 0-2.

                 The half-time gap between the teams was not a huge one, and Brian Dillons were still in the game even after their poor first-half performance.  However, there was no improvement in their play in the opening sequence of the second-half and it was Rathpeacon who increased their advantage with three points in the opening 10 minutes. Martin Corbett opened Brian Dillons second-half account with a long distance pointed free after 11 minutes but, a mistake at mid-field, when possession was lost,  led to Rathpeacon going through for a goal , after 15 minutes, which more or less ended the game as a contest. From that stage on , Brian Dillons needed goals to get back into the game and they came close to getting one or two in the closing stages but were denied by the woodwork,on two occasions, and by a magnificent save by the Rathpeacon "keeper on another occasion. However, there was no denying Rathpeacon their victory as they were a way superior team on the day. We wish them the best of luck in the final and also, in the County final against Castlemagner.

             For Brian Dillons this was a game to forget. Only ,in defence ,will any of the players look back with satisfaction on this game.  The evergreen Derek McDonnell, who has given many sterling displays in the colours of Brian Dillons, was, as usual, soundness personified at full-back while James Murphy, Dylan O"Donoghue and James Varian got in some tremendous work with their lengthy clearances. Sadly, it was a bad day at the office for the Brian Dillons forwards with only two players contributing to the miserable six points full-time tally. Midfielder, Martin Corbett was the only other scorer with two points from frees.

           The Brian Dillons scorers were; James Horgan,0-3 (0-1 free); Martin Corbett, 0-2 ( frees) and Mark Buckley,0-1.

            The Brian Dillons team lined out as follows; (1) John O"Herlihy; (2) Stephen Walsh;(3) Derek McDonnell; (4) James Murphy; (5) Michael Noonan ; (6) Dylan O"Donoghue; (7) James Varian ;(8) Cian Crowley; (9) Martin Corbett; (10) Shane Maher; (11) James Horgan; (12)

 Ben Wharton; (13) Mark Buckley; (14) Tommy Boland; (15) Andrew Murphy;  Subs; Dave Whelan for Stephen Walsh; Stuart Crichton for Shane Maher; Kevin Allen for Ben Wharton; Stephen Kearney for Tommy Boland.