Kilkenny SHL-Youthful Dicksboro impress against Clara

Dicksboro began the St. Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League/Championship with an impressive display, getting the better of Clara on a scoreline of 5-18 to 3-11 as their youthful forwards proved too hot to handle for Clara.

The city club made a blistering start, racing into a 0-4 lead after four minutes, with braces from Bill Sheehan and Harry Shine alongside a free off the stick of Andy Gaffney.

A dangerous ball into the Dicksboro half gave Paul Cody a chance to test Brian Manogue in the Boro goal, Cody’s low shot was saved well by Manogue but an alert Liam Ryan swooped in with a rebound goal as the 2013 champions reined in the 2017 winners to within a point by the sixth minute.

Clara’s tails were up and they built on their goal with two further points, Martin O’Connell and John Murphy both raising a white flag in response to an Ollie Walsh score to level the game at 1-2 to 0-5 after 13 minutes.

Dicksboro’s ability to find scores was a constant threat throughout and they hit another purple patch between the 14th and 23rd minutes.

A spectacular Cillian Hackett point from the centre of the field was the highlight of the period with Bill Sheehan proving to be a regular architect of scores.

Liam Ryan lived up to his captain’s title over the course of the match and he gave Clara a fighting chance in the 24th minute with a neat point off his left to reduce the margin to 0-10 to 1-3.

But Dicksboro were in scoring form at this juncture, another Cillian Hackett special from the centre of the field extended Michael Walsh’s team’s advantage to five points.

By the 28th minute the Boro men stretched the gap to eight points.

The hard-working Bill Sheehan dashed down the wing, delivering a ball to Liam Moore in front of the posts and Moore sent the net bulging to leave the scoreline at 1-11 to 1-3.

Clara’s John Murphy showed supporters his nifty corner-forward play as he swooped past a sleeping Boro defence to hit the net and brought his club back to within five points of their opponents.

Clara outscored Dicksboro by 0-2 to 0-1 in the final six minutes as Martin O’Connell and Liam Ryan slotted over points.

The match turned significantly in Dicksboro’s favour in the 33rd minute, a looping ball from Harry Shine found the dangerous Liam Moore who sent the ball racing to the net for the second time and left the scoreboard reading 2-12 to 2-7 in favour of Dicksboro.

Harry Shine was in superb form and following a 20 metre free, he was involved in yet more goal creation in the 37th minute, a crafty pass from Shine saw the experienced Andy Gaffney, who was unusually quiet scoring wise to this point, come alive in a menacing area and shoot past Clara keeper Kevin Nolan.

Bill Sheahan’s man of the match display saw him get in on the goal scoring act with three minutes of the match left to play to extend the margin to 12 at 4-17 to 2-11.

John Murphy’s forceful pull from close range gave his club Clara their third goal of the contest in the dying stages but nothing was going to rain on the Dicksboro parade as sub Aaron Murphy received a ball following a fabulous Tom Kenny solo run and stuck the ball to the net to bag the Boro’s fifth goal of the day.

Teams and Scorers

Dicksboro - Harry Shine (0-9, 0-6 frees); Bill Sheehan (1-4); Liam Moore (2-0); Andy Gaffney (1-2, 0-1 free); Aran Murphy (1-0); Cillian Hackett (0-2); Eoghan Moylan (0-1).

Clara - John Murphy (2-1); Liam Ryan (1-4); Martin O’Connell (0-2); Conor O'Shea, Matt Kenny (0-1 free each); Joe Connolly, David Langton (0-1 each).

Dicksboro - Brian Manogue; Padraic Moylan, Niall Rowe, Stephen Dermody; Eoin Fennelly, Tom Kenny, Timmy Clifford; Ollie Walsh, Cillian Hackett; Bill Sheehan, Aidan Nolan, Liam Moore; Harry Shine, Mark Nolan, Andy Gaffney.

Clara - Kevin Nolan: Conor Cody, Sean O’Shea, Harry Boyle; Jim Kehoe, Shane Staunton, David Langton; Jack Langton, Conor O’Shea; Paul Cody, Martin O’Connell, Liam Ryan; Chris Bolger, Joe Connolly, John Murphy.

Referee - Gavin Quilty