Saturday evening the Junior Hurlers travelled back to Castletownroche in what would be their last game of the year, missing out on the chance of progressing to the final. It was Mallow who stood in their way and after a well contested game, the Carrigoon side booked their place against Liscarroll-Churchtown. Always with all teams in full swing, holidays and people just otherwise busy, Fermoy travelled with 17 lads who all came to play with yet another very young average. The first half Fermoy did some damage with Shane O’Keeffe and Adam Creed playing very well. The young partnership of Ross O’Sullivan and Ronan Morrison in the middle of the field had Mallow under pressure and with all 6 backs playing touch-tight stuff, Mallow were finding it hard to come by scores. At half time Fermoy went in with a slight advantage over Mallow. At the half a shuffle in the backs was required when Bryan Barry went off with a head complaint after a goalmouth scramble. Forde stepped in to fullback and did well until Ryan Sargent picked up an injury from a questionable tackle and due to the short numbers Bryan came back in to fullback. The second half was primarily dominated by Mallow would reduce and gain the advantage in their favour. Unlike the PIHC finale, Fermoy wouldn’t make such a magical come back but did throw everything at the Mallow side who had plenty to think about in the closing minutes. With all the effort there would be no reward as Mallow took the win 2-13 to 2-11 and move forward to the final. This brings the junior hurling year to an end but this game played as an eye opener on the potential of the team in years to come. Hopefully through picking up more lads coming through the year, they can give the Championship a very good run and make more progress than this year. The team lined out as following: T O’Brien, R Sargent, B Barry, A Forde, C O’Keeffe, T Gumbridge, D J Hayes, R Morrison, R O’Sullivan, A Creed, C Hurley, N Collins, C O’Carroll, C Murphy and S O’Keeffe. Subs: D O’Callaghan and J Wales.