Thurles battle with Tipp could decide Kilkenny fate
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
Allianz Hurling League Roinn 1A
Galway 0-35
Kilkenny 0-17
Pearse Stadium, Salthill
“From the get-go we were flat, totally unacceptable from our side, not good enough, very disappointed.” The words of Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng after we watched his side dismantled by Galway in Pearse Stadium last Saturday evening. The Noresiders Bainisteoir stated that the Cats had prepared well and despite this being the 3rd week on the bounce for both sides, that was no excuse for the performance of those in black and amber. “We’d no energy, were too passive, I’m responsible for that and it wasn’t good enough.” Plenty of honesty from the boss, but he knows that despite having his term at the helm extended last summer, the pressure is very much mounting.
The Emeralds clubman has another eight days to have his team primed for a crucial clash with Tipperary in FBD Semple Stadium, and things won’t be easy won in Thurles either. A little further down the line, Lyng will revisit Salthill in five weeks’ time in the Leinster Championship.
The meager return of 0-17 was never going to be enough to secure victory out west, especially when Galway had two players in Aaron Niland and Cathal Mannion whose combined scoring was greater than Kilkenny’s total. The Tribesmen opted to play against the breeze in the opening half, and the decision proved fruitful as they had six points to spare at the interval. The Westerners came out of the traps quickly, Tom Monaghan setting up Cathal Mannion for the first of his six points of the evening inside the opening 20 seconds of play. The Cats best player on a horrible evening in Salthill, Cian Kenny got the visitors going moments later, but Craughwell’s powerful Tom Monaghan replied for Micheál Donoghue’s charges. Captain Darragh Corcoran then found Eoin Cody in acres of space, and the Shamrocks man raced towards the ‘D’ before popping over the first of his two points in the west.
Clarinbridge’s Aaron Niland then took over proceedings, registering the games next four scores, three from placed balls and a tidy effort from play to push his sides lead to four points early on in Pearse Stadium. Kilkenny responded with two on the bounce, a free from The Village’s Cian Kenny and the second of former skipper Eoin Cody’s tally. Young Aaron Niland notched his fifth of the game just ahead of a lovely strike from O’Loughlin’s Jordan Molloy, but once again the hosts reeled off three quickfire scores to maintain their dominance in Salthill, a brace from Ahascragh Fohenagh’s Cathal Mannion and a lovely effort from their top scorer on the night, Aaron Niland. Dicksboro’s Liam Moore then pointed to reduce the lead to four again, but the next two scores came from the maroon-clad side, another placed ball from Niland and a quality point from Rory Burke.
James Stephen’s star, Cian Kenny popped over two fine points from play, to make it a double score game and that was when the Kilkenny management made their first change of the league clash, John Donnelly replacing clubmate, Luke Connellan as the travelling side sought to change the direction of momentum in the first half. Clarinbridge’s Niland added two more scores to his rising tally and the Tribesmen pushed their lead out to seven points on 31 minutes when Tom Monaghan rifled over. The first half scoring was completed by a Cian Kenny placed ball to leave those in black and amber trailing by six at the interval.
The Kilkenny management team would have been scratching their heads during the break, and the scratching no doubt continued for the remainder of the game. Another change for the Noresiders saw Emeralds Killian Doyle come in for Shamrocks Niall Shortall. A fast start would have been needed from the Cats to get a foothold in the game, but the exact opposite happened, as Micheál Donoghue’s team rubber-stamped their authority on the game by blitzing the sluggish Cats when play resumed. Player of the Match Cathal Mannion, Aaron Niland and Loughrea’s Tiernan Killeen added points for the Supermacs sponsored side before Oranmore-Maree’s Rory Burke showed great skill, converting a sideline cut to leave ten points between the sides after 40 minutes of the round 5 clash.
The Cats did register, but unfortunately it was the names of two of their players into Colm Lyons’ book, Liam Moore and Paddy Deegan. Mullagh wing back Ronan Glennon then got on the scoresheet before Aaron Niland’s second and third efforts of the half were struck. With his side now trailing by a whopping 13 points, manager Lyng sent on Richie Reid in place of recently booked Paddy Deegan. Thomastown’s John Donnelly got his sides second score of the half and the third followed quicky, thanks to an effort from Conahy’s Tom Phelan. A bad night got a little worse for Kilkenny when Young Ireland’s Mikey Carey left the field with a possible hamstring injury and was replaced by Glenmore’s Shane Murphy. Cian Kenny struck over a lovely point with 20 minutes remaining to reduce the gap to ten points, but the impressive Cathal Mannion fired over for The Tribesmen as they maintained complete dominance on proceedings. Cats’ top scorer Kenny converted another placed ball, but majors scores would have been needed to make any impression on the scoreboard for Lyng’s outfit.
Micheál Donoghue then made a double change, Conor Cooney and Jason Rabbitte replacing Darragh Neary and Tom Monaghan. Kilkenny shuffled their pack again, Glenmore’s Ian Byrne coming in for Jordan Molloy. Sharpshooter Aaron Niland tagged on another free which Cian Kenny replied to, but another blast of scores from the home side courtesy of former captain Conor Whelan, two from Rory Burke and one apiece for Cathal Mannion and TJ Brennan extended Galway’s lead to a massive 15 points with inside the final ten minutes in Pearse Stadium. A double change from Micheál Donoghue saw Evan Niland and Oisin Lohan enter the fray in place of Rory Burke and the sensational Aaron Niland. Another Mannion got on the scoresheet, this time defender Padraic splitting the posts, while sub Lohan fired over shortly after being introduced. With time thankfully running out, Cian Kenny struck over another free, but Galway subs Rabbitte and Niland got in on the scoring act to allow their side to go 19 points clear with two minutes of normal time remaining. Dicksboro’s Liam Moore and the Cats saving grace, Cian Kenny tagged on two further scores for the visitors, but St Thomas’ Conor Cooney struck the last point in injury time for the Westerners as mercifully Colm Lyons sounded the long whistle. Full time in Pearse Stadium, Galway 0-35, Kilkenny 0-17.
Kilkenny Scorers: Cian Kenny 0-10 (4fs); Eoin Cody and Liam Moore 0-2 each; Jordan Molloy, John Donnelly and Tom Phelan 0-1 each.
Kilkenny: Aidan Tallis; Rory Garrett, Mikey Carey, Ivan Bolger; David Blanchfield, Darragh Corcoran (captain), Paddy Deegan; Cian Kenny, Jordan Molloy; Liam Moore, Eoin Cody, Luke Connellan; Niall Shortall, Martin Keoghan, Tom Phelan.
Scorers for Galway: Aaron Niland 0-13 (9fs, 165), Cathal Mannion 0-6, Rory Burke 0-4 (1sl); Tom Monaghan and Conor Whelan 0-2 each; Tiernan Killeen, Ronan Glennon, TJ Brennan, Padraic Mannion, Jason Rabbitte, Evan Niland, Conor Cooney and Oisín Lohan 0-1 each.
Galway: Darach Fahy; Joshua Ryan, Cillian Trayers, Kieran Hanrahan; Ronan Glennon, Padraic Mannion, Darren Morrissey; Cian Daniels, Tiernan Killeen; Darragh Neary, Cathal Mannion, Rory Burke; Thomas Monaghan, Conor Whelan, Aaron Niland.
Subs: Jason Rabbitte for Monaghan (53), Conor Cooney for Neary (53), TJ Brennan for Morrissey (59), Evan Niland for Burke (62), Oisín Lohan for Aaron Niland (63).
