Bragging rights with the Pairc na Ratha men in the South
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
St Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League
Two rounds of fixtures have now been completed in the 2025 St Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League and the unpredictable nature of all things club wise on Noreside continues. Only two sides remain unbeaten in the early stages of the competition with both Thomastown and O’Loughlin Gaels holding unblemished records. Noel Doherty’s side followed up their round one win over The Sash with a comprehensive dismantling of Erins Own in St. John’s Park while the league holders got the better of Lisdowney.
Round two action got underway with the meeting of Tullaroan and Clara in Ballyragget, and it took a strong finish down the straight for Ken Coogan’s outfit to snatch the points. Worryingly, not only for The Sash, but Kilkenny, Tommy Walsh was stretchered off in the opening minutes with what looked like a nasty ligament injury. It was the men in maroon that settled quickest, racing into an early four-point lead, with U20 star Rory Glynn very much to the fore in everything that was good about his side. The speedy Glynn had good support around him in the shape of Chris Bolger, Paul Cody and Conor Hoyne, the latter who kept the scoreboard moving from placed balls. The opposition responded, with Mossy Keoghan and Dylan Simpson prominent as they tried to gain a foothold in the game.
It would be Clara that went into the interval with a 3-point lead, but Coogan’s charges ramped things up a little in the second period, with Bill Walton really shinning as The Sash took over the middle third, which gave them a platform to reign in their opponents. Along with his four placed ball efforts, Dylan Simpson notched 5 points from play as they were only 1-point in arrears approaching the final stretch. Shane Staunton got on the scoresheet for Clara, and it looked like they might hold on, but the highly impressive Bill Walton fired over three scores to deadlock matters. Kilkenny’s top Cat this season, Martin Keoghan then found another gear and struck over a brace of points, but one of Clara’s best performers on the evening, Paul Cody pointed to set up a tense finish, but it would be the games top scorer, Dylan Simpson that struck to ensure maximum points went to The Sash.
Two teams that appear happy to share the spoils when they meet are Mullinavat and Graigue Ballycallan, and this was the case during their latest clash in Dunnamaggin last weekend. The Vegas Boys looked well in control at times, but the Tom Ryall Park outfit can be a difficult opponent for any team, and so it proved in this round two fixture. The classy Billy Ryan was denied a certain goal inside the first ten minutes when Sean Fitzpatrick came to The Vat’s rescue. With Oisin Knox’s accuracy and the Malone’s firing well, it was looking good for Mullinavat, but heading into the last ten minutes of the first half GBC were ahead thanks to scores from young Jeff Neary and a brace of placed balls from Sean Ryan. The light blues looked to be moving well when Colm Prenderville played in Aaron McEvoy who finished smartly to raise a green flag. By the short whistle Oisin Knox’s major, straight from his ‘65 saw his side lead by two. The Vegas Boys hit the jackpot in the opening minutes of the second period, tagging on 1-3 without reply, Brian Phelan with the major score.
Conor Flynn got in on the green flag raising to relight the Graigue Ballycallan fire and along with Ryan Corcoran and a 3-pointer from Sean Ryan, they breathed new life into their supporters hopes. Some indiscipline from Mullinavat gave Sean Ryan several opportunities to close the gap and the placed ball maestro finished with 0-10 from his art. Conor Walsh hit the third of his points which The ‘Vat thought was the winning score, but step forward county star Billy Ryan to ensure his team headed home with a point in the bag.
Clara was the venue for a cracking tie between Bennettsbridge and Dicksboro. The Bridge were ahead by the bare minimum when they raised the games only green flag, following a lovely lay off by Liam Blanchfield to Sean Morrissey, the latter finishing to the net. The ‘Boro kept the scoreboard ticking over and went in four points down at the interval. It looked like the men in stripes were beginning to pull away, after 12 minutes of the second period the gap was five, but The Bridge began to claw back the arrears, and the game was deadlocked with four minutes remaining. Dicksboro edged ahead in the last minute, but a bit like GBC, step forward county star David Blanchfield who rifled over from his own ‘65 to ensure a share of the spoils for Bennettsbridge.
St. John’s Park was the location for Thomastown’s emphatic victory over Erins Own. The County champions had far too much in the locker for the perennial relegation strugglers. Noel Doherty’s outfit were 6 up when they struck the first of their four majors. Peter Connellan launched a long probing diagonal ball deep into the Castlecomer defence where Naoise Dempsey rose highest to claim possession. The number 8 was missing one vital element, his hurl, but that didn’t prevent him from finishing to the net courtesy of his right foot, which caught netminder Sean Buggy by surprise. The Town went into the break nine points to the good and never looked back.
Having taken care of round one business with an impressive win over Bennettsbridge, Shamrocks Ballyhale made the short trip to take on neighbours Glenmore. No doubt Henry would have been hoping to build more momentum, but it was Seamie Dollard’s charges that got over the line in their own backyard, despite a fast start from county stars Eoin Cody and TJ. Another Eoin, of the Kenneally variety popped a pass to the former two-time young hurler of the year who blasted to the net on four minutes for his sides first score of the game. less than two minutes later Niall Shortall was the provider and despite being under great pressure passed to TJ who struck a fierce shot beyond Eoin Murphy to give Shamrocks a four-point lead. By the short whistle, their lead was pushed out to 6 points, but Glenmore never lie down. They fought back well, using the elements and with Ian Byrne in outstanding form they were back in the contest and trading blow for blow. TJ struck a 6th point to level matters, before the aforementioned Byrne struck over a monster effort from out on the right sideline to the delight of the home crowd. Brian Cody had a chance to snatch a point for his side, but his effort was pulled wide. Some win for Dollard’s Glenmore.
The last action of round two saw Lisdowney face-off against league champions O’Loughlin Gaels in Canon Kearns Park. While Brian Hogan’s men ran out easy winners, 15 points was the margin at the long whistle, it was last season’s intermediate champions that opened the scoring through a point from Richie McEvoy inside two minutes. By the 8th minute, the home side were two points ahead, thanks to efforts from Brian Kavanagh and Niall Brennan. OLG were ahead by the 11th minute, and that’s when the game began to get away from their hosts. Jack Nolan played a ball into Luke Hogan who collected, spun his marker before racing away and finishing past the helpless Aidan Tallis.
County panelist, Hogan then got his second and his sides third major on 25 minutes. Promising wing back, David Fogarty sent his searching delivery towards his full forward, who cleverly batted the ball down before racing onto it and firing past Tallis. The O’Loughlin’s lead was out to eight but the final score of the opening period came from the games first scorer, Richie McEvoy. Hogan’s outfit kept the foot on the pedal when play resumed and had it have not been for the accuracy of Brian Kavanagh; the winning margin could have been double what it was.
This weekend round 3 throws up a couple of interesting encounters. League holders O’Loughlin Gaels clash with Dicksboro at UPMC Nowlan Park looks like a really good match-up. The Boro will have been served notice of Luke Hogan’s form and will need to prevent quality ball going into the powerful forward. There is a repeat of last season’s Shield final, with Thomastown meeting Mullinavat in Callan. Noel Doherty will not want a repeat result. Inistioge hosts the meeting of Glenmore and Bennettsbridge. It will be interesting to see if Dollard’s charges can build on their derby win over Shamrocks. The Blanchfield’s will need to stand strong if they are to secure their first win of the season. Things are shaping up nicely.
