Eire Og Annacarty 1-13, Rockwell Rovers\Rosegreen 1-11.

Eire Og Annacarty did just about enough to reach the semi-finals of the 2017 West B Hurling Championship after surviving a dogfight with the Rockwell Rovers\Rosegreen combination in New Inn on Sunday. The Annacarty side just barely held out a late onslaught from the home side after squandering a lot of chances, requiring desperate last ditch tackling to survive.

The early stages saw both sets of defenses on top with scores hard to come by. Evan Heffernan had the opening point on 3 minutes with the combo replying 3 minutes later. Eire Og followed up with 1-2 without reply to lead by 5 on the first quarter mark. Paul Burke & an Aidan Griffin 65 were followed by a goal from Luke Neilon, flashing to the net following good work by Connie Bradshaw. Further points from Aidan Griffin (3, 2 frees) and Connie Bradshaw kept Eire Og ahead as the interval approached. With a minute of normal time left, the home side hit back capitalizing on slack defending to lash in a goal to leave the minimum between the sides before Aidan Griffin landed another free to leave the score 1-07 to 1-05 at half time in Eire Og's favour. Eire Og not helped by shooting 6 wides and squandering at least 2 gilt-edged goal chances.

With the heavy pitch, both sides found scores to come by as defenses took control. Both sides were reduced to swapping points from frees. Eire Og were thankful that Aidan Griffin had his radar in good working order as he had 5 points, 4 from placed balls along with another point from Connie Bradshaw. In all both sides shared 12 points during the course of the 2nd period, only 3 of the points coming from play not helped by the heavy underfoot conditions. Keeping the home side at arm's length proved just enough to secure a semi-final slot for Eire Og as they emerged victorious on a 1-13 to 1-11 at Paddy Russell's final whistle.

Eire Og's leading performers were the Loughman brothers Eoghan, Ciaran & Gearoid, Stephen & Mike O'Brien, Connie Bradshaw and top scorer Aidan Griffin.

Eire Og Annacarty: Arnold O'Dwyer, Eoghan Loughman, Mike Fox, Ciaran Loughman, Paul Burke (0-1), Stephen O'Brien, Jordan Hayes, Mike O'Brien, Aidan Griffin (0-9: 6 frees, 1 65), Gearoid Loughman, Liam Og O'Dwyer, Connie Bradshaw (0-2), Evan Heffernan (0-1), Conor Devlin, Luke Neilon (1-0).

Referee: Paddy Russell, Emly.