Loughs & Town unbeaten as Glenmore catch the eye again
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
St. Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League
Glenmore claimed another big scalp in this season’s St. Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League in round 3, running out 4-point winners over Bennettsbridge at Inistioge last weekend. Having got the better of Shamrocks in the previous round, Seamie Dollard’s charges played some lovely hurling as they moved into second place in Group A, just ahead of Henry Shefflin’s outfit.
One of Glenmore’s best performers on the day, Ciaran Kirwan got the scoreboard moving in the opening seconds, as he fired over to give his side the lead. Placed ball specialist, Ian Byrne built on his excellent showing a week earlier, notched his first point shortly after, when Enda Morrissey was booked for holding onto the game’s opening scorer. Byrne notched two more frees, either side of Bennettsbridge’s first point, which came from James Hughes. Jack Dollard then took a pass from Eoin Aylward before rifling over from distance which showed the stiff breeze that the Pairc na Ratha men were playing with in the opening period.
With 13 minutes on the clock, Ian Byrne popped over his latest free to extend his side’s lead to five points. Over the next eight minutes, the Bridge began to find a little rhythm and began reducing the arrears. Three more placed balls from James Hughes complimented tasty efforts from the impressive Timmy Kelly and classy Liam Blanchfield. Liam was causing the opposition defence plenty of problems and his ability to win free’s was key to helping Brian Lannon’s team gain parity with just under nine minutes to the interval. Young Jack Dollard found his way into referee Eoin Maher’s book during this purple patch, trying in vain to halt the opposition’s No.14.
The dynamic Cathal Beirne then sent over a lovely score to give Glenmore the lead again and they pushed this to two points when the rampaging Kirwan fed midfielder Com Roche, who duly applied the finish. Messrs. Hughes and Byrne exchanged frees just ahead of a well worked score that saw wing back Timmy Kelly turn provider and give Nicky Cleere the opportunity to reduce the arrears to the bare minimum. Cathal Beirne tagged on his second of the evening just ahead of a fine score from Sean Morrissey, but the final score of the half came from the man that got the game’s first, Ciaran Kirwan as Dollard’s men headed to the Inistioge changing rooms with a 2-point lead.
Despite leading at the break, Glenmore made a couple of changing during the interval, with Michael Harney and Alan Murphy entering the fray in place of Colm Roche and Robbie Fitzgerald. The latest member of Clan Murphy to arrive on the field took little time to get involved, setting up Cathal Beirne for a cracking score from the restart. Nicky Cleere struck for the Bridge before the sides shared two points via placed balls, Ian Byrne for Glenmore and David Blanchfield from distance for his team. A further sign of the strength in depth that is now within Dollard’s panel saw the towering Billy Reid come on in place of Eoin Aylward in a move that saw Darragh Vereker move to the edge of the square to ‘mind’ Liam Blanchfield. Jack Dollard then roamed forward before giving a nice pass to Charlie Phelan who split the posts to leave the Pairc na Ratha teams lead at 3 points. The game got a little scrappy with both sides hitting uncharacteristic wides, but this spell was broken when Liam Blanchfield notched another tidy point. The Bridge built on this with a score from Enda Morrissey, who was operating at ‘6’ following his captain Conor Murphy’s move to full back during the first half.
The first goal of the game then arrived. A Sideline cut was sent into the danger zone and Ethan Phelan reacted quickest to fire beyond Bridge netminder, Enda Cleere. Ian Byrne added three further points to his growing tally, including a sweet score from play, nicely assisted by Ciaran Kirwan. Jack Campion’s replacement, Ciaran Brennan then struck over a nice point but another Enda Morrissey foul on Kirwan gave Glenmore the chance to push the lead out to five and Ian Byrne did just that. Lannon’s charges needed a big score and quickly and they got one in the 59th minute. David Blanchfield rose to claim the catch before passing to Hugh O’Neill who rifled to the net and leave the gap at just 2 points. Glenmore stood tall and attacked. Ethan Phelan drew the foul and Mr Byrne converted the resulting free. They won the puck out and having seen a few earlier efforts miss the target, Billy Reid struck the insurance score to the delight of the Glenmore faithful!
O’Loughlin Gaels and Thomastown remain the only two unbeaten sides in the competition having recorded wins over Dicksboro and Mullinavat respectively. Brian Hogan’s team got off to the perfect start in UPMC Nowlan Park with a goa inside the first minute courtesy of the in-form Luke Hogan. Having notched 2-2 in the previous game, the powerful attacker took a hand pass from Kevin Murphy before rifling a fierce shot past Darragh Holohan in the ‘Boro goal. The Loughs always looked comfortable and went into the interval six ahead. Dicksboro came back strongly after the break and with Cillian Hackett, James Carroll, Patrick Lacey and Tom McPhillips all contributing to the Palmerstown outfits cause, they actually outscored their city rivals after the short whistle, and came up just 3 points adrift at fulltime.
Thomastown don’t always make life easy for themselves, and this proved to be the case in Callan when they clashed with Mullinavat. This was a repeat of last season’s Shield final, which the ‘Vat won and in the early stages it looked like Colm O’Byrne’s men were going to repeat that result as they were in control for much of the contest in John Locke Park. Noel Doherty’s team went into an early lead with Naoise Dempsey continuing his good form along with the usual accuracy from Robbie Donnelly. With 21 gone in the opening period, Robbie popped over a placed ball effort to restore his sides advantage, but a strong finish to the half from the Vegas Boys saw them take a 4-point lead into the second period. When play resumed they continued to thrive and finding it easier to get scores than the Town. A second major and some well taken points left the Vat nine up with about 6 minutes of the third quarter played, but the scores then dried up for the Shield winners and this allowed Thomastown to claw their way back into the game. With Robbie Donnelly converting the placed balls, the County champions found themselves level with 9 minutes of the game remaining thanks to a lovely score from play by Robbie. The Vegas Boys only managed one further point, while the Town struck over five more points to secure the win and maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Tullaroan were involved in an exciting clash with Graigue Ballycallan in Pairc Lachtain in a game that the Tom Ryall Park men will scarcely believe they didn’t win. It was back and forth for much of the opening period, but the sky blues hit the front inside the final ten minutes of the half and remained in the lead until very late in the game. The Sash drew level, before everything erupted! Goalkeeper Niall Holland stood over a free inside his own ’45 and launched a delivery in and around the house. As players rose to claim the sliotar, Dylan Simpson ran onto the break and batted the ball past Sean McGrath, Tullaroan 3 up with seconds remaining. As their players celebrated the major, GBC restarted played and sent a booming delivery of their own into the danger zone. Ed McAvoy broke the ball to sub Shane Butler who referee Peter Burke deemed to have been brought down in the square, penalty to Richie O’Neill’s men. There was some pushing and shoving before the penalty could be taken, with Butler having a few words with Niall Holland. When a little calm was restored, county star Billy Ryan stepped up and struck the penalty, only to see netminder Holland produce a diving save, the long whistle sounded, Tullaroan had snatched a late late victory. The Sash keeper appeared keen to remind Shane Butler about the result and a little schemozzle ensued. A second win of the campaign for The Sash.
Shamrocks Ballyhale had too much quality for a gallant Lisdowney side on Saturday evening. With TJ to the fore and a rampaging Brian Cody on song, Henry’s team collected their second win in Group A, but plenty to work on defensively according to Mr Shefflin. There was also a first win of the season for the Castlecomer men as Erins Own got the better of a stubborn Clara side by the bare minimum in Muckalee.
Round 4 is on the horizon. The two standout fixture take place on Saturday with Shamrocks trying to halt the O’Loughlin Gaels express, while improving Glenmore will tackle Palmerstown outfit, Dicksboro. More drama on Noreside guaranteed!
