Kilkenny SHL - Tullaroan inflict more misery on James Stephens

Tullaroan returned to winning ways in Group A of the St Canice's Credit Union Senior Hurling League on Saturday, over-turning an eight-point half-time deficit to beat a winless James Stephens in Canon Kearns Park.

The win puts Tullaroan into third place on six points in the group while the Village remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

The match played in a warm and sunny Castlecomer was a game of two halves as Brian Cody's men dominated the first half before their grip on the two points was relinquished in the second.

James Stephens made a blistering start racing into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead inside five minutes, with Luke Scanlon and Cian Kenny, from play and from frees amongst their scorers.

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Tullaroan were struggling to get to the races of the game but stayed in touch courtesy of a Shane Walsh free and a brace from Dylan Simpson to leave the scoreline at 0-5 to 0-3 after 13 minutes.

The Village were rewarded for their efforts with a goal in the 19th minute when a hard working Ed McDermott picked out Sean Manogue in a a dangerous area, deep in the Tullaroan half with Manogue netting to give his team a 1-7 to 0-5 advantage.

Tullaroan continued to pick off scores as the half progressed but the Village continued to provide the answers and held a healthy eight point buffer at half-time with the scoreboard reading 1-13 to 0-8.

If the first half belonged to James Stephens, the second half certainly belonged to Tullaroan who found their swagger and put to bed the hangover of the loss to Thomastown last weekend.

Five points in five minutes including a double from John Walton narrowed the gap to 1-14 to 0-13 as the pendulum began to swing in favour of the North Kilkenny outfit.

Tullaroan's growing dominance eventually lead to their opening goal on the 37th minute as a cleverly constructed move which started with Mossy Keoghan concluded with Shane Walsh who slotted the ball to the net from close range to leave the James Stephens advantage a slender one at 1-14 to 0-13.

James Stephens responded with two points of their own but were struggling to contain the Tullaroan forwards as Gearoid Dunne and Mossy Keoghan caused problem after problem for the city side.

A second goal for Shane Walsh in the 42nd minute gave Tullaroan the lead for the first time at 2-14 to 1-16 and in truth Ken Coogan's charges never looked back. 

A third goal from Gearoid Dunne ten minutes later all but sealed Tullaroan's victory as they saw out the game with six points to spare at full-time and in the process brought themselves began into the conversation as contenders for the championship. 

Full report in this week's Kilkenny People.

Tullaroan - Paul Buggy; Joe Coughlan, Tommy Walsh, Martin Walsh; Tomás Dunne, Padraig Walsh, Charlie Cleere; Bill Walton, Jack Keoghan; Bill Gaffney, Mossy Keoghan, Dylan Simpson; John Walton, Gearoid Dunne, Shane Walsh.

James Stephens - Gavin Costigan; Shane Donohoe, Eoin Guilfoyle, Mikey Byrne; Sean Bergin, Diarmuid Cody, Niall Mullins; Cian Kenny, Niall Delaney; Andy Parsons, Luke Scanlon, Ed Lauhoff; Oisin Bateman, Ed McDermott, Sean Manogue.

Referee - Peter Burke (Emeralds)

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