Kilkenny & DL - race heats up as top three contenders take maximum points

After a weekend where frost and ice meant a lot of games fell by the wayside, the Kilkenny & District League returned with a bang with all 10 teams in the St Canice’s Credit Union Premier Division in action.

Lions A 4, Bridge Utd 3 - Durrow played host to a seven goal thriller on Saturday night.

The game offered an insight into both club’s seasons so far with the pair deadlocked on 15 points apiece in the league standings.

The turning point of the game came early in the second half with a brace of goals within the space of 60 seconds securing all three points for Lions (fifth).

Pierce Blanchfield was to the fore in the first half for Bridge Utd (fourth) with the sharp shooter scoring a brace in the 35th and 45th minutes respectively, cancelling out a netted finish from John O’Brien for the hosts.

However, the pendulum swung in the home’s sides favour early in the new half with Dean Kelly’s second goal of the season and Eoin Sheppard giving Lions the lead.

But, as the saying goes ‘it ain’t over until it’s over’ and this showdown illustrated that perfectly. A textbook free kick from Conor English looked to have rescued a point on the 88th minute but a dramatic late equaliser from sub Rian Edwards stole the spoils two minutes into added time.

Deen Celtic A 1, Evergreen B 0 - Bottom of the table Deen Celtic (10th) secured a long awaited first win of the season and ended a two game losing streak against their opponents (5th) who were eight points ahead of their hosts pre-kick off.
The only goal of the match arrived seven minutes before the break courtesy of Declan Cooney to move to within two points of second bottom Callan Utd.

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TITLE RACE

- Evergreen 2, Newpark 0
- Fort Rangers 5, Thomastown Utd 0
- Callan Utd 0, Freebooters 6

Evergreen remain top of the table and unbeaten after 11 games while their nearest challengers Fort Rangers and Freebooters put in statement performances.

David Grincell bagged his 15th goal of the season (4th minute) and Mikey Clifford proved to be scorer (65th minute) and provider as Evergreen beat a stubborn Newpark (sixth). Meanwhile, braces from Emmet (21, 55 mins) and Eddie Nugent (20, 80 mins) moved Fort Rangers (second) closer to the leaders with a win over Thomastown (seventh).

Freebooters (third) are 13 points off the top but after notching 14 goals in two games and hitting Callan United (ninth) for six - perhaps their race may not be run yet!

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