HURLING – LEINSTER SEN ‘A’ Q-F: KILKENNY CBS 1-19 DUBLIN NORTH 1-12
North seniors bow out to slick Cats side
Daire Walsh
MICHEAL Murphy finished with an impressive tally of 0-7 at Ratheniska on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Dublin North’s elimination from the Leinster Schools Senior Hurling ‘A’ Championship at the hands of Kilkenny CBS.
Mike O’Dwyer’s charges had advanced to this quarter-final encounter as a result of their gutsy qualifier triumph over rivals Dublin South six days earlier, and Ardscoil Ris’ Murphy was once again an influential presence for the Metropolitans. North defeated the Noresiders in last season’s senior league semi-final, but despite remaining in touch during the early moments, the combined forces of Sean Boyd, Conor Heary and Niall Brassill placed CBS into the driving seat.
Their 0-14 to 0-6 cushion at the midway point appeared to be an insurmountable one, but North gave themselves a fighting chance with a well-worked goal from Pobalscoil Neasain attacker Jason Byrne two minutes after the restart.
Dublin netminder Josh Rooney (of St Paul’s College, Raheny) was called into action on a number of occasions, but with Murphy, Sean Currie, Byrne and Lee Gannon leading by example, they reduced their deficit to three points in the 57th minute of the contest.
However, a smart finish by Boyd from the subsequent attack proved to be a decisive score.
And Kilkenny CBS ultimately booked their spot in the semi-finals with seven points to spare (1-19 to 1-12) over the Sky Blue representatives.