Dub’s up next for ‘six seeking’ stripey men
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
Leinster SHC – Round 3
Kilkenny 4-25 Offaly 2-16
UPMC Nowlan Park
Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim)
Having suffered defeats in their previous two outings in Leinster, the last thing Offaly probably wanted was a trip to Noreside that coincided with a first championship appearance of 2025 for the legendary TJ Reid. After 70-odd minutes of action in UPMC Nowlan Park the Shamrocks Ballyhale man had enjoyed his outing, finishing with a personal tally of 2-9, 2-2 of which came from play. At the long whistle, Kilkenny were full value for their 15-point victory. The win for the home side means Offaly’s wait for a provincial win over the Stripey men will extend to 31 years.
Johnny Kelly would have hoped that his side made a positive start in the Marble City, but they quickly found themselves on the back foot and had conceded the first of four majors in the opening few minutes. Stephen Donnelly got the scoreboard moving in the first minute, sending over a nice score before TJ notched the first of his points shortly after from the placed ball. Offaly’s main man, Brian Duignan opened his sides account, courtesy of a free in the 3rd minute. Then came green flag raiser number one for the hosts. Thomastown’s Stephen Donnelly took a fine catch before providing Mossy Keoghan with a golden opportunity to strike for goal, and the Tullaroan sharpshooter did exactly that. TJ tagged on another free, before Brian Duignan got his and his sides second point of the evening.
Graigue Ballycallan’s Billy Ryan, who had a very productive evening, hit two lovely points, either side of a tidy score from Stephen Donnelly. The Cats then collected their second goal to really pull clear of The Faithful County. Bennettsbridge’s David Blanchfield launched one of his trademark deliveries into the heart of the visitors defence. As a couple of defenders rose to deal with the attack, the sliotar broke kindly for ‘aul hand’ TJ Reid who made no mistake in striking a fierce low shot beyond Durrow clubman, Mark Troy. Thirteen minutes gone in the round three encounter and Kilkenny held a 9-point lead. The Leinster champions built on the second major with a third point of the evening from the lively Billy Ryan.
Offaly kept plugging away and showed good fight in recording the next three scores, thanks to a free from Duignan and two lovely efforts from play from Dan Bourke and Charlie Mitchell. Unfortunately for the travelling side, Kilkenny added points from TJ and Dicksboro’s Harry Shine, before Durrow’s Dan Ravenhill sent over a nice point. With 26minutes on the clock, TJ rifled over another placed ball effort which Johnny Kelly’s charges responded to with a lovely point from pacey Belmont player Oisin Kelly. The Cats stepped on the gas ahead of the interval and added points from impressive Thomastown duo Stephen and John Donnelly to add to another free from Mr. Reid. The home side were then forced into a change, with Harry Shine departing and being replaced by Adrian Mullen on 33 minutes. Brian Duignan added another brace of placed balls ahead of a nice score from The Village’s Cian Kenny. The final two scores of a fruitful opening period for the home side were taken by captain, John Donnelly to leave the halftime score at UPMC Nowlan Park, 2-16 to 0-11 in favour of the black and amber.
The second half started a little scrappily, with some uncharacteristic wides from the home side. Indeed, the first score after the interval came some five minutes in, when Adrian Mullen collected a long high pass from Tommy Walsh before racing clear of the Offaly defence and dispatching his shot beyond the helpless Mark Troy to push the Cats lead out to 14 points. The lively Oisin Kelly then showed his talent as he struck his sides first major of the game 60 seconds later, following a determined run through the Kilkenny defence. Unfortunately for Offaly, the next two scores were from those in vertical stripes, a free from TJ and a sweet point from Cian Kenny, who is cementing his place in Derek Lyng’s starting XV. With thirteen minutes gone in the second period, Killian Doyle entered the fray, replacing the towering David Blanchfield.
TJ split the posts with another placed ball and that score signaled another change for Lyng’s outfit, O’Loughlin’s Luke Hogan coming on for Stephen Donnelly. Another placed ball for Kilkenny, another for the Mighty Reid. The Faithful County did register a score, Tubber’s Donal Shirley striking over a great score from centre back. Some wayward shooting followed, resulting in a total of seven second half wides for Kilkenny. When accuracy resumed, it was TJ striking his sides 4th major of the game that was the next score, with about 14 minutes of normal time remaining. Sensing his playing time might be almost up, Reid rifled over his 9th point of the evening, before leaving to hearty applause from the majority of the crowd in attendance within UPMC Nowlan Park to be replaced by Galmoy’s Billy Drennan.
Brian Duignan added two more placed balls to his personal tally, one either side of the latest Kilkenny change which saw Mossy depart and Fionn Mackessy coming on for the final ten minutes. The Kerry native’s impact was instant as he struck over a cracking score, less than three minutes from entering the field of play. Billy Ryan fired over his 4th of the game before the most impressive of the Offaly attacking unit, Oisin Kelly beat Cats netminder Eoin Murphy for the second time, again showing a blistering turn of pace to race away from the Kilkenny defence before finishing in style. Kilkenny skipper John Donnelly struck his team’s last point before Donal Shirley sent over a booming effort to complete the scoring on Noreside. Final score, Kilkenny 4-25, Offaly 2-16.
Scorers for Kilkenny: TJ Reid 2-9 (0-7f), B Ryan 0-4, J Donnelly 0-4, M Keoghan 1-0, S Donnelly 0-3, A Mullen 1-0, C Kenny 0-3 (0-2f), H Shine 0-1, F Mackessy 0-1.
Scorers for Offaly: B Duignan 0-8f, O Kelly 2-1, C Mitchell 0-3, D Bourke 0-2, D Shirley 0-2.
KILKENNY: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh; D Blanchfield, M Carey, P Deegan; C Kenny, J Molloy; B Ryan, J Donnelly, H Shine; S Donnelly, TJ Reid, M Keoghan.
SUBS: A Mullen for Shine (33), K Doyle for Blanchfield (49), L Hogan for S Donnelly (51), B Drennan for Reid (59), F Mackessy for Keoghan (61).
OFFALY: M Troy; B Conneely, C Burke, J Mahon; J Sampson, D Shirley, R Ravenhill; C King, C Spain; K Sampson, D Bourke, O Kelly; D Ravenhill, B Duignan, C Mitchell.
SUBS: E Burke for D Ravenhill (44), D Nally for R Ravenhill (48), S Bourke for J Sampson (48), P Cantwell for Conneely (58), B Kavanagh for Mahon (62).
Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim)
>>>SHERRY SAYS….
3 from 3 for Derek Lyng’s Kilkenny outfit. No less than he and Gaels on Noreside would have expected. TJ’s return to provincial championship action resulted in a masterclass from the master. Good to get minutes into the 7-time All-Star’s legs ahead of bigger clashes this summer. Billy Ryan and captain John Donnelly were also in decent nick against the Faithful County, sending over some nice scores.
Good to see Adrian Mullen back in action again, while Fionan Mackessy is looking every inch Cats player when called into action. A quiet evening for Mossy, just a goal to his name!
After a trio of provincial wins, Kilkenny will welcome joint group leaders, Dublin to UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday (3pm Throw-in). If Derek Lyng can mastermind a fourth win of this Leinster campaign, a final berth will be secured. The Cats finish the round robin stage with a trip to Chadwicks Wexford Park a week later. It could well be that the winner of Dublin vs Galway on the last weekend of May will be our opponents in the quest for six provincial titles on the trot. It’s shaping up nicely.
