Good weekend of hurling
St. Lachtains 3-12 v 0-20 Blackwater Leinster Hurling League Quarter Final
It was definitely a game of two halves in Freshford Kilkenny on Bank Holiday Monday with the lads putting in a strong overall performance, especially in the second half reeling in a 13 point deficit at one stage. It was a game where you could say the better team lost as a few small errors cost us dearly and being unlucky in front of goal gave the home side the win.
Our lads enjoyed a lions share of possession throughout the game but the Kilkenny side were clinical in front of goal, goaling after just 7 minutes. We were playing into a strong breeze and it seemed to effect our shooting ability, hitting a number of wide’s. Overall though we were playing a nice brand of hurling and opening up space for the full forward line to try and score. The men in black and amber moved into a 5 point lead in the 13th minute and that was out to 9 after the St. Lachtains hit the net again when a long ball in wasnt dealt with. Pad scored a much needed free 3 minutes before the half time whistle before Mossy had a brilliant goal chance, an excellent move between himself and Pad with some close in passing allowed mossy to drift in from a tight angle but unfortunately his goal shot was excellently saved. The lads trailed by 10 at the break but we actually hurled very well with the score misleading with us just hitting a high number of wide’s while the Kilkenny side were scoring their chances.
We started the second period well with a Pad free settling the side before a Kilkenny response. Unfortunately for us a well worked move by the men of black and amber stripes put together a good move goaling to leave the boys trailing by 13 points, a mountain to climb. Still though you felt that our lads were hurling well enough to reel in that score and they certainly made a strong case scoring 6 in a row including a Seanie Purcell catch and score while we had another goal chance that went abegging when a Mossy run though was laid off to Seanie but unfortunately it just drifted wide. St. Lachtains finally scored a free on the 13th minute but our lads again went on the attack with Pad scoring from distance. The home side threatened again before Diarmuid made a vital interception in what could of been another goal chance. With still 15 to go there was still 7 between the teams but yet again we scored three in a row, two Pad frees and a lovely Jimmy point. Unfortunately though we were reduced to 14 men for a harsh sending off with them pointing the resulting free with seven minutes left but the lads werent giving up and Seanie P, Mossy and a Pad free had it back to just 2 points. That was as close as we got before the final whistle so it was a good performance by the team and it was nice to see to strong back to back performances by our intermediate team.
Scorers: Pad 0-8, 0-5 frees, Seanie P 0-4, Brian Og 0-3, Jimmy 0-2, Dean Whelan 0-1, Mick Lillis 0-1, Mossy 0-1
Monageer-Boolavogue 2-15 v 2-17 Blackwater
Our recently crowned second team were taking part in the league competition for the first time since Paul Murphy lifted the league title back in 2017 (the 39 year old also made an appearance late in the game) against Monageers second string on Monday evening last in a thrilling end to end affair. The men in red raced into an early three point lead before James Dooley got on the end of a long ball by Kevin O’Brien to hit the net. The game was point for point before our lads made it a three point gap with Ciaran, Gavin and Seamus pointing. It was out to 5 with 9 minutes left before half time before Monageer got a lucky break with ball hitting the post and dropping to a player in red to find the net. We regained our 5 point cushion after a lovely run by Gavin freed up Adam Murphy and he blasted to the net a couple of minutes later. The lads lead by 4 at the turn.
15 minutes though into the second half, Monageer were head by 1, scoring unanswered points in a row before the wiley corner forward James Dooley and Adam Murphy had us back in front by 1. Monageer had their second goal with 10 left but our lads finished the stronger with three late excellent long distance Ciaran Cash frees seeing us through to the end.
Next up for the intermediates is a game on the 2nd May v Tara Rocks at home while the second team play Buffers Alley on Apr 30th at home also.