The Brian Dillons Junior (A)Hurlers  qualified for the semi-final of the City Division Junior (A) Hurling Championship with a 1-15 to 1-13 victory over Douglas ,which was played in Ballinlough on Sunday morning,15th July,2012.

                    Even though Douglas opened the scoring with a point in the second minute, the Brian Dillons side were never trailing ,once Keith McCormick scored his teams opening point in the third minute. One minute later, Brian Dillons took the lead with a good solo run by Brian Barrett  who then hand passed to full-forward John Horgan and his blistering shot was brilliantly saved by the Douglas "keeper . However,the rebound fell to Cillian Brosnan who duly rattled the net. A point from midfielder, Cian McCarthy,pushed Brian Dillons further ahead after five minutes. It seemed ,at this stage that Brian Dillons were poised to drive on and to emerge as comfortable winners but,once again, deplorable misses by their forwards from scoreable positions,which resulted in a total of ten wides in the opening half , left them only five points ahead,1-8 to 0-6,at the interval . 

                  Douglas had the advantage of an extremely strong breeze in the second half and their prospects of recording a surprise victory were very much alive.However, Brian Dillons managed to stay five or six points ahead throughout most of the second-half mainly due to the unerring accuracy of John Horgan from placed balls and the outstanding performance of Darragh Rodgers at full-back. With just three minutes left in the game, Brian Dillons were leading by 1-14 to 0-12,and looked set to see out the game comfortably. Then, Douglas were awarded a free out near the sideline ,about twenty five yards out from the Brian Dillons goal. Some of the Brian Dillons defenders dissented the awarding of this free and the Referee punished them by allowing Douglas take the free in a much more advantageous position. The freetaker went for a goal from the free which was saved by the Brian Dillons defenders lining the goal. However,from the resulting melee ,one of the inrushing Douglas players stroked the ball over the line to leave just two points between the teams. A Tomas Lawrence point in the 29th minute, Brian Dillons only score from play in the second half, left three points between the sides and Douglas closed the scoring in the 30th minute with another pointed free. In the three minutes of injury time,Douglas mounted a few more attacks in search of the winning goal but they were repulsed by the brilliance of Darragh Rodgers,the Brian Dillons full-back.

                   Brian Dillons are now through to the semi-final of the Championship and with ten victories from ten games played in the Junior(1) Hurling League, Team Manager, Kieran O"Mahony ,must be reasonably happy with his teams progress so far this season. However, he will be concerned about the amount of wide balls amassed by his forwards in recent games.

             Scorers against Douglas were; John Horgan,0-9 (0-6frees, 0-2 "65s);Cillian Brosnan,1-0; Keith McCormick,0-2;  Danny Murphy, 0-1 ( a superb strike from 70 metres );Cian McCarthy,0-1; John Noonan,0-1;and Tomas Lawrence,0-1.

              The Brian Dillons team lined out as follows; (1) Tom Triggs (capt.) (2) Niall Fahy; (3) Darragh Rodgers; (4) Danny Murphy; (5) Daniel McCormick (6) Mark White; (7)Darragh Brosnan; (8) Cian McCarthy; (9) Tomas Lawrence;(10) Keith McCormick; (11) Cillian Brosnan;(12) Brian Barrett;(13) John Noonan; (14) John Horgan; (15) Philip O"Brien; Subs.,Kevin Coughlan for Philip O"Brien (40 mins.); Dave Coughlan for Keith McCormick(50 mins.);