LEINSTER SCHOOLS JUVENILE HURLING ‘A’ LEAGUE
Stears and Hegarty give good shows to keep the Cats toothless
Daire Walsh
THERE were mixed results for Dublin sides against their respective Kilkenny counterparts in the Leinster Schools Juvenile Hurling ‘A’ League, which got underway in the capital last Thursday afternoon.
Two days before an eagerly awaited clash between the same two teams in the Leinster Schools SH ‘A’ Hurling Championship, Dublin North faced Kilkenny CBS at the DCU Sportsgrounds. North have regularly advanced to the knock-out stages of this competition in recent years and were narrowly defeated by rivals Dublin South in a 2014 decider at O’Toole Park.
Thanks to strong performances from half-backs Ben Stears (Fingallians) and Thomas Hegarty (Naomh Maur), North kept CBS at arm’s length during the early moments of the contest. Backed by a significant St Vincent’s contingent, the Metropolitan attack also achieved an optimum level of performance.
Daniel Peel and Gordon Rodgers caught the eye with some excellent scores before a Callum Walshe goal effectively placed the outcome beyond doubt. Their Noreside opponents did as much as they could to rein in their challenge, but with Sean Cummins and Sean Brady producing stand-out performances, North secured a comprehensive 1-18 to 1-11 win.
The National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown was the venue on the same day for Dublin South’s meeting with St Kieran’s College, which ended in an agonising defeat for the Sky Blue outfit. With the St Jude’s triumvirate of Patrick Fitzgerald, Micheal Lawlor and Padraig McNally all featuring in the squad, South gave an excellent account of themselves.
Kieran’s raised green flags at vital junctures in the play, however, and this helped them to prevail by a single point (3-11 to 1-16).