Eire Óg CC get themselves back in contention
UPMC SHC, GROUP B, ROUND 2
KILDARE SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP B ROUND TWO
EIRE ÓG CC 1-19
LEIXLIP 0-17
Daire Walsh at Conneff Park, Clane
Eire Óg/Corra Choill boosted their Kildare Senior Hurling Championship knockout hopes with a hard-fought victory against 14-man Leixlip in Group B of the competition at Conneff Park, Clane on Sunday.
Following a 1-21 to 0-13 reversal at the hands of Coill Dubh 15 days earlier, Eire Óg could ill-afford another slip-up. They were facing a Leixlip side that had narrowly accounted for Clane in the opening round and who led by three points with just 11 minutes of normal time remaining.
However, the influential John Roche had been dismissed on a second yellow card offence by then and Eire Óg took full advantage of their numerical supremacy in the dying stages.
While Liam Dempsey was their scorer-in-chief with nine points, Rory O’Neill’s stoppage-time goal was the score to kill off the game as a contest.
It was a dream start to the action for the Caragh-based Eire Óg as they developed a 0-4 to 0-1 lead with just nine minutes on the clock. Kevin O’Mahony, Conor Kielty and Dempsey (two) all found the range, with Leixlip’s sole contribution coming from Darragh Melville.
The Radley Park men were expected to grow into the contest, however, and this was how it transpired. Roche and Cian Bracken got them motoring and even though O’Mahony added another for Eire Óg, consecutive efforts by Patrick Murphy (two), Roche and Cormac Keegan had Leixlip firmly in the ascendancy on 26 minutes.
Despite the concession of scores to Gary Johnson and Dempsey, Melville and Murphy matched them at the opposite end to make sure Leixlip were 0-9 to 0-7 in front at the interval.
Although Dempsey got the ball rolling for Eire Óg after the break, a confident Leixlip reasserted their authority through Roche and Murphy. Yet, with Roche’s sending off coinciding with a Dempsey brace for Eire Óg, their chances of success suffered a major blow.
They initially coped well with just 14 men as Jack Travers and Melville split the posts in quick succession. Melville and Murphy were also on hand to cancel out Ben Noone and Dempsey efforts at the far end, but Eire Óg eventually utilised the extra space at their disposal.
Noone, Michael Begley, Jack Higgins, Dempsey and centre-back Kevin Connor registered five points in six minutes to put Eire Óg in a strong position with the finishing line in sight.
A Murphy free for Leixlip looked set to make it a grandstand conclusion, until O’Neill pulled to the net at an acute angle.
Whilst Bracken bagged a second point for Leixlip, Eire Óg saw the game out with points from midfielders Paul Dolan and Dempsey.
Scorers: Eire Óg/Corra Choill: Liam Dempsey 0-9 (9f), Rory O’Neill 1-0, Ben Noone, Kevin O’Mahony 0-2 each, Kevin Connor, Gary Johnson, Paul Dolan, Conor Kielty, Michael Begley, Jack Higgins 0-1 each.
Leixlip: Patrick Murphy 0-6 (6f), Darragh Melville 0-4, John Roche 0-3, Cian Bracken 0-2 (1f), Jack Travers, Cormac Keegan 0-1 each.
EIRE ÓG CORRA CHOILL: Paul Dermody; Daniel Murray, Cormac Byrne, Brian Fitzpatrick; James Dolan, Kevin Connor, Ben Noone; Liam Dempsey, Paul Dolan; Jack Higgins, Kevin O’Mahony, Gary Johnson; Ollie O’Neill, Rory O’Neill, Conor Kielty. Subs: Michael Begley for O O’Neill (38), Alan Lagrue for Higgins (58).Owen Houlihan for O’Mahony (63).
LEIXLIP: Keith O’Callaghan; Karl Burke, John Doran, Conor Burke; Cathal Derivan, Tomas Seale, Conor Higgins; John Roche, Jack Travers; Cian Bracken, Sean Higgins, Cormac Keegan; Darragh Melville, Patrick Murphy, Ben Travers. Subs: Alan Murphy for B Travers (37), Dara Mooney for A Murphy (52).
REFEREE: Killian Jones.