Intermediate Hurlers: The Harps Intermediate hurlers finished level with Portlaoise in the second round of the IHC, played last Saturday in Shanahoe. Leading for nearly the entire game and playing much of the better hurling throughout, The Harps will be disappointed not to have held on for the win, but they can also be thankful they did not lose in the end. Some good early scores from Niall Brophy, David Doheny and Conor Deegan got The Harps off to a great start. Portlaoise were relying on free’s to keep them in the game but further points from Brophy, Doheny, Brian Farrell and an excellent long range point by Dan Delahunty had The Harps cruising. Portlaoise to their credit dug in and two goals kept them in the hunt at half time with the score at The Harps 0-09 Portlaoise 2-02.

The second half took on a similar scoring pattern to the first, with The Harps again surging ahead with good points from play and free’s. Midway through the half The Harps struck for what looked to be a vital score when huge pressure around the Portlaoise goal mouth resulted in the ball being scrambled to the net by on of their own players to open up a 5 point lead. The remaining 15 minutes produced some frantic hurling as Portlaoise threw everything at The Harps and began to reduce the deficit point by point. The Harps will rue wasted possession and some bad wides during this period, as Portlaoise finally managed to level the game with time almost up to leave the final score at The Harps 1-13 to Portlaoise 2-10.

This is a performance our Intermediate hurlers will hope to build on when the replay takes place (Sunday 30th August at 12.30pm in Shanahoe). As always all support is greatly appreciated.

The Harps: 1.Peter Walsh; 2.Niall Donoghue; 3.Sean Cahill; 4.Shane Brophy; 5.Ciaran Costigan; 6.Dan Delahunty; 7.John Dunne; 8.Rory Moore; 9.Darren Maher; 10.Brian Clancy; 11.Brian Farrell; 12.David Doheny; 13.Eoin O Sullivan; 14.Niall Brophy; 15.Conor Deegan. Subs: Tadgh O Sullivan for Niall Donoghue; Sean Burke for Brian Farrell.