AHL DIV. 1 ROUNDUP – 4TH & 5TH MAY

ADULT HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE ROUND-UP: MAY 4-5

By Daire Walsh

Ballyboden St Enda’s and Na Fianna remain at the summit of the Adult Hurling League Division One table, following their respective successes in the past few days.

Defending champions ‘Boden made the journey to 12th Lock on Friday evening to face a Lucan Sarsfields side that were defeated by Na Fianna on March 11. Already buoyed by previous triumphs against St Vincent’s and O’Toole’s, the visitors secured a commanding 3-26 to 0-16 win.

This helps them to maintain their 100% winning rate after three rounds of AHL1 action, a record that is currently matched by the aforementioned Na Fianna. After putting O’Toole’s and Lucan to the sword in the early weeks of the campaign, the Glasnevin men underlined their title credentials in a 15-point victory (2-24 to 0-15) at the expense of All-Ireland champions Cuala at Shanganagh Park on Saturday.

While his brother Colin was scorer-in-chief with a grand total of 10 points, a Sean Currie goal also helped to place Na Fianna into the driving seat. Another major by Sean Ryan kept the visitors in control and Eoghan McHugh also capped an accomplished display with a 0-4 haul.

Though they fielded a weakened team, Oisin Gough, Sean Treacy, Simon Timlin and Colm Cronin all featured for the Dalkey outfit. As a result of their recent championship journeys, this was Cuala’s first league outing of 2018 and they will now look to bounce back away to Ballyboden on May 16.

Leading the chasing pack in third place are St Vincent’s, who had seven points to spare – 1-18 to 1-11 – at home to Craobh Chiarain on Friday. After following up a five-point reversal to ‘Boden with a hard-earned draw away to Crumlin, this was the maiden league win of 2018 for Vinnies.

With five-time Celtic Cross winner Diarmuid Connolly appearing off the bench, they had the measure of their Clonshaugh counterparts. Thanks to their 3-17 to 2-16 success over O’Toole’s at Blunden Drive, Crumlin are just behind the Marino men on score difference.

Elsewhere, St Jude’s claimed bragging rights against local rivals Faughs at Tymon North on Saturday evening. Though both clubs are based in the Wellington Lane venue, Faughs were officially the home team for this tasty encounter.

With Joe McManus to the fore, Jude’s built up an early advantage. The ever-impressive Mark Maguire was also on target, but there was little to separate the sides for much of the opening period. Despite adding further scores through Tom Devlin, Maguire and McManus (’65’), Jude’s trailed by the slenderest of margins – 0-8 to 0-9 – during the interval.

Yet, a blistering start to the second half effectively propelled Jude’s towards a morale-boosting victory. After Maguire rattled the back of the Faughs net on 35 minutes, quick-fire singles ensued through Manus Malone and McManus.

Indeed, another 0-2 salvo by the dynamic McManus – supplemented by a Mark Hannon point – saw them creating serious daylight on the three-quarter mark. Faughs brought this scoring burst to an end with a series of fine efforts, before Hannon’s stoppage-time contribution guided St Jude’s towards a 1-16 to 0-13 final buffer.