Isles join Crokes at top and Towers also progress
DUBLIN IHC ROUND-UP
Daire Walsh
ERIN’S ISLE produced a dramatic finish last Wednesday to squeezed past Naomh Mearnog in a compelling Dublin Intermediate Hurling Championship Group Two encounter at Portmarnock.
Heading into second-half stoppage-time, the Finglas men were staring down the barrel of a second straight defeat in the third-tier competition. That was until they fired back with a brace of frees to edge over the line by the narrowest of margins (3-13 to 1-18).
Isles had kick-started their campaign with three consecutive wins, before Kilmacud Crokes got the better of them on their home patch on June 12. The Stillorgan men lost out to Parnell’s at Chanel on Wednesday (3-16 to 3-11), however, and this opened the door for the northsiders to go level on points at the summit.
Despite losing Shane Ryan to an early injury, Mearnog caused the visitors a host of problems. Dublin senior hurler Cian Hendricken was exerting his influence and they rattled the opposition net after capitalising on some defensive hesitancy.
Isles maintained their composure and an excellent Darren Hanlon three-pointer kept them within reach at the interval. Mearnog regained a stranglehold on the play by crowding out the middle-third.
This was before Isles bagged a brace of goals, Conor Carney’s powerful penalty supplementing a firm Fran Carroll strike. The hosts subsequently moved back into the ascendancy, but with Mickey Donoghue, Graeme Williams and Ian Fitzpatrick to the fore, Isles claimed the spoils.
Whilst Crokes stay in top spot, Isles can embark on the knockout rounds in fine spirits. The race for the remaining quarter-final places continues, with a 6-23 to 3-10 triumph for St Sylvester’s over Peregrine’s keeping them level on four points with Mearnog and Parnell’s.
On the opposite side of the competition, Round Tower Clondalkin recorded a 1-13 to 0-14 win against Clontarf at Monastery Road to confirm their status as Group One winners. Maur’s will also join them in the next phase following their 5-25 to 1-8 victory at the expense of Kevin’s in Rush.
Because Clontarf still have three games left to play, there is four-way tussle between themselves Kevin’s, St Mark’s and St Vincent’s in their respective quests for the last-eight.