St Martin's too strong for Carlow Town in Junior Hurling League Final

Despite being reduced to 14 men for the entire second half, St Martin’s had enough in reserve to get their hands on the Junior E league title.

Carlow Town had been the equal of the men from Muckalee-Ballyfoyle in the first half. A point behind at the interval (0-8 to 0-7), they must have fancied their chances following a 28th minute red card to their opponents. However, the St Martins men took control after the break to record a deserved eight-point victory.

James Ingram opened the scoring in the first minute for Carlow Town, and while this was the only time they led in the evening, they competed well throughout.

In centre forward Alex Delaney, Carlow had one of the players of the match. He recorded four fine points, three frees and one from play in the opening 30 minutes. Seven of their eight first half points came from play, the other was from a Diarmuid 65.

For St Martin’s, their first half tally came from James Dowling (0-3), veteran Johnny Maher (0-2), and Damien Tynan, Ronan Shore and Ross Dowling (65).

Robbie Shore put St Martin’s two ahead at the start of the new half, but points from Oisin Pender and the excellent Delaney (65) left the sides locked at 0-9 apiece after 35 minutes.

At that stage it looked like Carlow would make their extra man advantage count, but they didn’t reckon on a Martin’s rally.

From here to the final whistle the Saints outscored their Carlow opponents by 1-9 to 0-4. Substitute Aaron Farrell was the goalscorer, finishing to the net following a long John Maher delivery. He added two further points from play before the long whistle.

The St Martin’s mix of old and young showed great spirit throughout. Goalkeeper Niall Shore made several fine saves that wilted the Carlow challenge. Veteran player John Maher, a Kilkenny senior intercounty panelist 20 years ago, was effective as always. Ross Dowling, Ronan Shore, and James Dowling were others to star.

Carlow Town competed well and tried everything to stay in the game. They used the spare man as a sweeper and, in the final 10 minutes, threw caution to the wind when chasing the game.

Credit is due to the Cloneen club for the staging of this game, with plenty of stewards and facilities looking spick and span.

Referee Brian Fox and his officials also performed well patrolling a very tough encounter.

Teams and scorers

St Martin’s - Aaron Farrell (1-2); Ronan Shore (0-5, 0-3 frees); James Dowling, John Maher (0-4 each), Ross Dowling (0-1, 65); Damien Tynan, Robert Shore (0-1 each).

Carlow Town - Alex Delaney (0-8, 0-5 frees, 0-1 65); Mattie English Hayden, Gearoid Lacey, James Ingram, Oisin Pender, Ruairi Dunbar (0-1 each).

St Martin’s - Niall Shore; Ciarán Fitzpatrick (captain), Matthew Shortall, Darragh Coughlan; Cormac Quirke, Ross Dowling, Adam Comerford; James Callanan, Damien Tynan; Joe Reid, James Dowling, Adrian Farrell; Ronan Shore, John Maher, Robert Shore.

Subs: Patrick Coughlan, Jack Murphy, Aaron Farrell, Ciaran Brennan, Shane O’Neill, Patrick Brennan, Conor Dooley, James Maher, Aaron Farrell, Tom Davis, Adam Morrissey, Michael Keane, Eoin Murphy, John Joe Kelly, Ewan Buggy, Josh Dempsey.

Carlow Town - Joe Bermingham; Conall McGuire, Cathal Ryan, Stephen Lacey; Lazzie Meaney (captain), Diarmuid Murphy, Sean Buggy; Adam Nolan, Mattie English Hayden; Gearoid Lacey, Alex Delaney, James Ingram, Brandon Farrell, Oisín Pender, Karol English.

Subs: Cian Campion, Blake Holmes, Ruairi Dunbar, John Phirl, Jamie Ayres, Adam Maher, Jason Kenny, Eoin Townsend, Brandon O’Reilly, Brandon Cassidy, Shaun Geoghegan, Tom Behan, Dylan McGrath.

Referee - Brian Fox.