BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
St. Canice’s Credit Union Kilkenny Senior Hurling League
Round four of the St. Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League proved to be an interesting set of fixtures, with County champions O’Loughlin Gaels now the only unbeaten side on Noreside.
The St John’s Park side put Graigue Ballycallan to the sword in Callan and ran out comfortable winners with more than 20 points to spare over Declan Browne’s charges and look in rude health as the business end of the club season approaches.
Going into round four, only two sides held 100% records and while OLG preserved that tag, Thomastown, somewhat surprisingly, lost their unbeaten status, going down to a much-improved Glenmore team who got over the line by the bare minimum in Piltown last Saturday. That was the first win of this season’s campaign for the Pairc Na Ratha men, and a much needed one at that.
Jenkinstown was the venue for the clash between struggling Erin’s Own and Clara. The Castlecomer men put in a much better performance in defeat, with the Carlow Road side just having a little too much for them, running out 5-point winners to move onto four points from their four games played.
Another side really struggling, James Stephens took on the challenge of Tullaroan at Canon Kearns Park and matched The Sash point for point, but conceded three majors in a six-point defeat. Brian Cody’s side will be kicking themselves, having held a substantial eight-point lead at the short whistle. Experienced duo, Luke Scanlon and Cian Kenny helped The Village get off to a decent start, but one of Tullaroan’s lively performers this season, Dylan Simpson fired over a couple of scores to keep his side in touch. Group A’s bottom side struck the first major of the game, courtesy of Sean Manogue to leave his side five clear.
The Sash came out with a spring in their step after the interval and started to reel in their opponents lead and a brace from John Walton helped do just that. They raised the first of three green flags via Shane Walsh to reduce The Village lead to one. Cody’s men battled on, but Mossy Walsh’s second major in five minutes, saw Tullaroan take the lead and they powered on from there and Gearoid Dunne sealed the victory for Ken Coogan’s outfit.
With Thomastown slipping up unexpectedly, that gave Tim Dooley’s Bennettsbridge the opportunity to leapfrog the new boys and claim top place in group A, going into the final round of games, and that’s exactly what the ‘Bridge did by securing a 4-point win over Dicksboro in Gowran. Goals from placed ball expert, Nicky Cleere and wing forward James Hughes provided the platform for Dooley’s men, who had Kevin Blanchfield in stunning form as they secured their win in group A. For the beaten Palmerstown outfit, they will look to the showings from Cillian Hackett and former Dublin County player, Shane Stapleton (0-9) as they prepare for round five this weekend.
The final fixture of round 4 saw Shamrocks Ballyhale head to Mullinavat to try and pick up a second win of their group B campaign, which has been underwhelming to say the least. Last week we noted that the ‘Vat may see this as a good time to take on the challenge of Shamrocks and that is precisely how things turned out as The Vegas Boys recorded a fantastic win against their near neighbours. Eoin Cody rifled to the net in the opening minute, but the home side didn’t let that early blow rattle them and they hit five on the bounce to set down a marker against the most successful hurling club on the island. Majors from Brian Phelan and Ger Malone saw the ‘Vat go in 5 up at the break and they drove on in the second half to earn a fully deserved win, with Michael Malone tagging on a late goal to seal a 7-point win.
Last orders…. Round 5.
Another ‘super Saturday awaits this weekend, with plenty to be decided as the senior teams go at it again. As is tradition, all games throw-in at the same time, tomorrow that is 2pm. Going into this final round of fixtures, its Bennettsbridge and O’Loughlin Gaels that hold the top spots in groups A and B respectively, and that’s where we will start with our preview.
Muckalee will play host to a pair of real entertainers, The Bridge and The Sash. On paper, group A is definitely the most competitive this season. These two teams, along with Thomastown are all locked on six points and it could be a real scrap for the top two places in this group. Bennettsbridge have been the top scorers in their group, and only O’Loughlin’s have outscored them at senior level this season. Backboned by the Blanchfield brothers, Dooley’s charges have a real goal threat about them and in the shape of Nicky Cleere, a deadly reliable placed ball specialist. While David is a towering presence in the ‘Bridge defence, Kevin has been a real classy presence in the engine room. The furthest forward of the Blanchfield clan, Liam is always likely to pinch a major while Sean Morrissey also likes to raise a green flag.
There are a couple of Walsh’s in The Sash’s defensive unit that will look to shut the ‘Bridge threats down. Tommy is the current county man, while Padraig has hung up his stripes to focus soley on Tullaroan. In attack, Martin Keoghan, Dylan Simpson and Gearoid Dunne will look to cause trouble in the ‘Bridge rearguard and all have been in good nick this campaign.
O’Loughlin Gaels final group fixture sees the current county champions take on struggling Shamrocks Ballyhale. The benchmark for all clubs across Noreside currently sit second from bottom of group B, with just one win from four games. Yes, they are notoriously slow starters to the club season, but this form will be alarming for all Shamrocks supporters. Yes, they have been missing some big names in the fixtures to date, but they would have expected to have more than 2 points on the board entering the final round. It will be interesting to see if facing the team that dethroned them last year can bring out the best in the South Kilkenny side.
While Shamrocks have struggled, O’Loughlin’s have picked up where they left off last season and have shown little sign of any complacency. When you have a strong, talented well-drilled side and you add a little extra, it can only make you stronger, and that’s exactly what the addition of Fionán Mackessy has done for the Gaels. Just like tomorrow’s opponents, the OLG side now strikes fear into any side they face. Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor, Paddy Deegan, Jordan Molloy, David Fogarty, Conor Heary, Owen Wall and Mark Bergin. That’s just come of the quality hurlers at their disposal. Should O’Loughlin’s continue their form against the Shamrocks, this could prove to be a pivotal weekend in club hurling in Kilkenny.
The newest additions to senior club hurling, Thomastown, under the guidance of Noel Doherty know that all eyes will be on Gowran, where they tackle Dicksboro tomorrow. Having slipped up at the hands of Glenmore last weekend, the Galmoy native will demand a response from his troops to further enhance their reputation after a long-awaited return to the top table.
Once again, the Donnelly’s can bring much to this clash for the ‘Town. John, Stephen and Robbie are all more than capable of racking up scores and influencing proceedings, as will Tucker O’Hanrahan. The energetic Zack Bay Hammond and Connellan’s Luke and Peter will all be keen to display their talent against the Palmerstown side. Captain Peter McDonald will no doubt be keen to make up for the late free that he missed last time out, and the young skipper has the character to bounce back and drive his team to a positive result. Dicksboro have suffered two defeats in their four games and have 3 points to show for their efforts to date. They will look to Cillian’s Buckley and Hackett, Timmy Clifford and Harry Shine to try and finish the group fixtures with a win, but they will need to put in their best performance of the season, if they are to inflict back-to-back defeats on the ‘Town.
Glenmore will arrive in Hugginstown on a high following their 1-point win over Thomastown. Alan Murphy led the way for the Pairc Na Ratha side, hitting 0-7, and he along with Ian Byrne and Billy Reid will look to finish the group games strongly when they meet a struggling James Stephens side. If Glenmore win and results go their way elsewhere, they could leapfrog Dicksboro and finish with five points. Similar to Shamrocks Ballyhale, The Village have been very much out of sorts, and while they do appear to have a lengthy list of absentees, they would not have expected to be pointless after four outings. Cian Kenny, Eoin Guilfoyle and Luke Scanlon have been plugging away for Cody’s charges, but it will take a mammoth turn in fortune of they are to get one over Glenmore. Like O’Loughlin’s, Glenmore have benefited from the addition of two Waterford hurlers new blood in the shape of Michael Harney and Ciaran Kirwan, the latter of which scored in the win over the ‘Town.
Erin’s Own will look to finish a disappointing league campaign on a better note when they meet Graigue Ballycallan in Urlingford. Like The Village, the Castlecomer side are pointless, and it’s hard to make a case for them to changing that tomorrow. The remaining fixture see’s Clara face-off against Mullinavat. Both sides have one thing in common, they recorded wins over Shamrocks. The Vegas Boys are 1 point better off than tomorrow’s opponents and you get the sense that this could be a really open game. John Walsh and Paul Cody will be keen to continue their good form and it could be that Clara’s superior firepower might just see them edge this contest in Dunnamaggin.
