Village’s McDermott star’s in home win over the Dubs
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
Oneills.com Leinster U20 Hurling Championship
Round 2 – UPMC Nowlan Park
Kilkenny 3-20
Dublin 2-1
Kilkenny made it two from two in this seasons Oneills.com Leinster U20 Hurling Championship with a 7-point win over Dublin at a sunny UPMC Nowlan Park last Saturday, ironically the same margin of victory that they held over neighbours Wexford a week earlier. Again, Eoghan Lyng was influential in everything that was good about this win, but the Rower Inistioge man had an attacking teammate that was in sparking form, The Village’s Ed McDermott finishing his shift with a personal tally of 1-5 in an eye-catching performance. The only sour note for the Noresiders was the dismissal of Timmy Kelly, late in the game, the Bennettsbridge man receiving his marching orders from Wexford whistler, Eamonn Furlong following an off the ball incident.
The home side got off to a dream start as Ed McDermott clipped over a nice point to open the scoring, the Cats having the advantage of the small breeze in the first half. Seconds later, the first goal of the game arrived. James Hughes was possibly looking to split the posts from distance, but as Dublin netminder Daniel Joyce tried to deal with it under pressure from Ed McDermott, the sliotar ending up in the net. James or Ed’s goal, you decide! The early major rattled the away side, and it was Mark Dowling’s charges that built on the blistering start. Eoghan Lyng followed up his excellent display against the Yellowbellies and notched the first of his 3-point haul with a classy effort from distance to give the hosts a 5-point lead with the same number of minutes played.
Dublin’s rocky start wasn’t helped by some wayward shooting, resulting in three wide’s in the opening minutes. Kilkenny then worked the ball to the roving McDermott who despite the unfavorable angle, slotted over for a tidy score. The towering James Stephens man then set up Michael Brennan and the Erins Own clubman took the opportunity to add to his side’s tally. With nine minutes gone, Clara’s Rory Glynn became the latest Cat to add his name to the scoresheet, benefiting from Eoghan Lyng’s nice play.
Fintan Clandillon’s outfit eventually opened their account in the 10th minute courtesy of a lovely point from Swords player Senan Crosbie. This score appeared to settle the side from the Capital, as they upped their game over the next ten minutes to outscore their hosts six scores to nil. The Metropolitans danger man, David Purcell got what would be the first of his 8-point haul soon after, a really decent effort from the Kilmacud Crokes forward. The sky blues were fighting harder, playing with more intensity and this was causing the home side problems. Kilkenny were also guilty of perhaps not marking as tightly as they could, as it appeared Dublin players were finding pockets of space all over UPMC Nowlan Park. Commercials Daniel O’Kelly became the latest visiting player to trouble the scoreboard and they built on this with a decent finish coming from David Mulqueen, the Lucan Sarsfields man pointing after some lovely approach play. Another Lucan player, Cathal Kennedy tagged on the next point, having joined the attack from his corner back position.
St Finian’s Crosbie got his second point of the game, much to the delight of the vocal travelling support and their purple patch continued when Purcell converted a placed ball, awarded for a spot of overcarrying by the men in black and amber. ‘Steps’ appeared to be referee Furlong’s bug bear, as he was letting both sides play away and letting the game flow at every opportunity. Kilkenny broke the visiting teams scoring run in the 20th minutes, captain Tom McPhillips applying the finishing touch to a lovely team move. Graigue Ballycallan’s Aaron McEvoy opened his account a minute later, converting a ‘65 to leave the home side three ahead. The Dubs claimed the next two scores, David Purcell with a free and a second of the round 2 clash for O’Kelly as the Cats lead was back to the bare minimum.
Dublin then contributed massively to Kilkenny’ second major of the day. One of the Kilmacud Crokes contingent, David Lucey played a loose pass across the goal which Ed McDermott pounced on and batted the sliotar one-handed to the oppositions net despite the best efforts of Conor Groarke, the Cuala player booked for his trouble. Two more scores followed before halftime, another beauty from Eoghan Lyng and a placed ball from David Purcell to leave the interval score 2-8 to 0-10 in favour of the Cats.
Mark Dowling and his management team made one change during the break, Tullogher Rosbercon’s Marty Murphy replacing James Hughes in the Kilkenny attack. This substitution saw Ed McDermott play a little deeper, while Walter Walsh’s protégé went to the edge of the square. The Cats started the second period in the best possible fashion, striking a major early doors. A long ball into the Dublin rearguard was pounced on by The Village’s McDermott whose vision saw him play a wonderful pass across the danger zone to Michael Brennan and the Erins Own player steadied himself before rifling his shot beyond Daniel Joyce in the visitor’s goal.
The response from Fintan Clandillon’s men was instant. A long delivery out of defence from centre back David Lucey was won by the battling David Purcell. The Kilmacud man showed great power and pace to shake off his marker before firing past Stephen Manogue from a tight angle. The Noresiders responded in the best way, tagging on scores from Rory Glynn and Tom Ryall Park duo, Jeff Neary and Aaron McEvoy (f) to push the Cats lead out to six points. Conal Ó Riain then showed his quality, the Kilmacud Crokes midfielder registering two cracking points in the space of three minutes. These scores came either side of a placed ball from the accurate Aaron McEvoy. The impressive Ed McDermott then notched another lovely score before McEvoy converted another placed ball. The lively Michael Brennan then split the Dublin posts to bring his tally to 1-2, marking a tidy display by the Castlecomer man.
Dowling’s charges were then reduced to 14 men, Timmy Kelly seeing red for an off the ball incident. Dublin used this numerical advantage immediately with Daniel O’Kelly’s effort nestling in the Kilkenny net, the Commercials clubman with 1-2 to his name in UPMC Nowlan Park. A second change of the encounter then followed for the home side, James Stephen’s Sean Bergin entering the fray in place of Clara’s Rory Glynn. Player of the Match, Ed McDermott then struck over his fourth point of the game in the 51st minute, but David Purcell sent over a ‘65, only to see Aaron McEvoy split the posts from play. The classy Eoghan Lyng then registered his third score of the game as the Noresiders went eight clear with about 7 minutes remaining in UPMC Nowlan Park.
Dublin kept plugging away and recorded the next two scores, points from Clontarf’s Joe Sheppard and sub Joe Kavanagh. Kilkenny then introduced Greg Kelly, the O’Loughlin’s man replacing captain Tom McPhillips. The Village’s Ed McDermott then notched his fifth point of the clash before Marty Murphy scored what would be the hosts final score of the evening. The last score of the game came from an unlikely source, Dublin No. 3, Ben Lynch who reduced the arrears to seven points. Job done for the Cats. Final Score, Kilkenny 3-20, Dublin 2-16.
Scorers Kilkenny: E McDermott 2-5; M Brennan 1-2; A McEvoy 0-5 (3f, 1 ’65); E Lyng 0-3; R Glynn 0-2; T McPhillips, M Murphy, J Neary 0-1 apiece.
Scorers Dublin: D Purcell 1-5 (0-3f, 0-1 ’65); D O’Kelly 1-2; S Crosbie, C Ó Riain 0-2 each; D Mulqueen, C Kennedy, J Sheppard, N Fitzgerald, B Lynch 0-1 apiece.
Kilkenny: S Manogue; T Kelly, I Bolger, D Vereker; R Garrett, E Lyng, C Hickey; T McPhillips, J Neary; E Lauhoff, A McEvoy, M Brennan; J Hughes, E McDermott, R Glynn. Subs: M Murphy for Hughes (half-time), S Bergin for Glynn (51), G Kelly for McPhillips (57), R Corcoran for McDermott (61), J Bollard for Bolger (63).
Dublin: D Joyce; C Groarke, B Lynch, C Kennedy; B Kenny, D Lucey, J Sheppard; F Murphy, J Kinnane; C Ó Riain, D Kilduff, S Crosbie; D Purcell, D Mulqueen, D O’Kelly.
Subs: O Gaffney for Kilduff (38), N Fitzgerald for Mulqueen (44), J Kavanagh for Crosbie (44), K Costello for Murphy (48), F Donohue for Kinnane (56).
Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford)
