Kilkenny SHL: Stephens sunk as Bennettsbridge get back to winning ways

A five-star goalscoring performance helped Bennettsbridge bounce back to winning ways in the Kilkenny senior hurling league - but the win heaped more misery on James Stephens.

While they made a slow start, once the ’Bridge got going there was no stopping them in Danesfort on Friday evening, as they fought their way in front and stayed there. 

It was the opposite for the Village, who made a fine start but found themselves overrun by their rivals before the break. Led by Ed Lauhoff, Luke Scanlon and Cian Kenny the city side were 0-5 to 0-0 up inside six minutes and seemingly on course to pick up their first league points of the season.

By the interval it was a different story; goals from Jason Cleere, Sean Morrissey and Liam Blanchfield saw a fired-up Bennettsbridge go in four points up (3-7 to 0-12). Worse the injury-hit Village, they also lost Niall Brassil from the fray.

A David Blanchfield point from the restart showed Bennettsbridge’s intent to kick on and, backed by the wind, they kept some distance between themselves and their rivals. James Stephens got to within three of the leaders thanks to more points from Kenny (two frees) and sub Noah Manogue, but a run of five points after the three-quarters stage from Shane Byrne, Jason Cleere, James Hughes, Kevin and Liam Blanchfield all but ended their comeback aspirations (3-17 to 0-17).

There was a glimmer of hope when Eoin Guilfoyle ended a solo run with a shot that arrowed into the top left corner of the Bennettsbridge net, but the winners quickly shut down that revival when Morrissey rose highest to flick a loose ball to the net on 56 minutes, before Liam Blanchfield booted a fifth goal home in the dying seconds of normal time.

SCORERS: Bennettsbridge - Liam Blanchfield (2-4); Sean Morrissey (2-0); Jason Cleere (1-2); Nicky Cleere (0-5, 0-4 frees); Kevin Blanchfield, Jack Campion (0-2 each); David Blanchfield, Shane Byrne, James Hughes, Hugh O’Neill (0-1 each).

James Stephens - Cian Kenny (0-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 65); Eoin Guilfoyle (1-1); Ed Lauhoff, Luke Scanlon (0-3 each); Sean Bergin (0-2), Noah Manogue (0-1).