Kilkenny IHL: The Village begin life at intermediate with tough St Martin's battle

James Stephens (The Village) began life outside of the senior grade for the first time since 1955 on Saturday, beating St Martin's in their Group A opener of the Michael Lyng Motors Hyundai Intermediate Hurling League.

Youth appeared to be the policy of the day for the Village's new management team, which includes Eoin Larkin and Jackie Tyrrell, with impressive showings from Oisin Bateman, Sean Deeley and Ruairi Harrison evident in the city club's six point victory.

Cian Kenny, has played in a variety of positions for club and county in recent years and proved to be a safety blanket on matchday one, returning to his rooving centre-back role.

As for 'Cheddar' Plunkett's St Martin's, they will be looking to build on the positive foundations of their 2024 campaign as the league progresses, with the Muckalee men competitive throughout on Saturday despite the loss.

FYI: What we know after the first round of the Kilkenny senior hurling league

Sean Hunt (0-3) at corner-forward was to the fore for the Muckalee men whose threat in the forward line caused problems at varying junctures of the match.

Two periods of heavy scoring in the first half along with a neatly crafted Luke Scanlon goal in the opening period proved to be the winning of the game for the Village men, with Scanlon's netted finish constructed by fellow experienced head on the panel Tadgh O'Dwyer.

After a tight opening, Eoin Larkin's side pushed into a 0-6 to 0-3 advantage by the 12th minute, with a brace from Ruari Harrison amongst the white flags raised.

St Martin's did respond with three quick fire scores courtesy of Oisin Kelly, Sean Hunt and Stephen Kinsella to level proceedings (0-6 each after 14 minutes) but a scoring tally of 1-4 for the Village over the next 10 minutes gave the intermediate new boys breathing space again (1-10 to 0-6) with six minutes of the half to play.

James Stephens held a 1-11 to 0-8 advantage at half-time and by the call of time very little had changed. The teams bagged 0-9 apiece in the second half, illustrating perfectly the small margins between them, with the Village's greater ability to open up avenues to score from play the difference.

Tadhg O'Dwyer's importance from play and frees continued in the second half with Donal Shore (0-2) joining Stephen Kinsella and Sean Hunt as a key match figure as the clock ticked to a conclusion. But, grinding out the result was the order of the day when neither team pointing more than two scores on the bounce without a response from the opposition in the second period.

James Stephens will face Tullogher Rosbercon next Saturday, while St Martins have a clash with Dunnamaggin to look forward to next Sunday.

James Stephens - Tadhg O'Dwyer (0-6, 0-4f); Sean Deeley (0-4); Cian Kenny (0-3, 0-2f), Oisin Bateman (0-3), Luke Scanlon (1-0); Ruairi Harrison (0-2); Jamie O'Keeffe, Conor McEvoy (0-1 each).

St Martins - Shane Kinsella (0-8, 0-6f); Sean Hunt (0-3); Donal Shore (0-2), Oisin Kelly (0-2 f); Brian Coady, James O'Neill (0-1 each).

Referee - Owen Beehan (Fenians)

Full Match Report in this week's Kilkenny People...

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