Dicksboro well beaten by Caragh in Leinster football opener

Kilkenny senior football champions Dicksboro fell at the first hurdle in the Leinster Intermediate Championship when crashing out to a well polished Caragh outfit on Saturday afternoon in Freshford.

Fresh from a victory overMeath Hill the week previous, the Kildare outfit were on top for much of the game and put the result beyond any doubt when scoring four second half goals with both Jake Corrigan and Dan Campbell finishing with two goals apiece.

The Boro relied on the free-taking expertise of Shane Stapleton and Edward Moylan with all but two of their points coming from placed balls with Caragh getting a much bigger scoring spread over the course of the 60 minutes.

Caragh came into the game as big favourites as they faced a Dicksboro team that hadn’t played competitively since winning the Kilkenny championship last May and those contrasting preparations told the longer the game went on with the floodgates really opening up in the final few minutes.

Dicksboro had a much changed look to the team that defeated Lisdowney in the county final a couple of months ago as they welcomed former Kilkenny hurler Cillian Buckley amongst others into the fold.

To begin with at least, they looked like they would make a real game of it as they matched the Kildare side score for score in the opening quarter with Edward Moylan converting two frees in response to efforts from Jake Corrigan and Darragh Swords.

It was from here that Caragh then began to flex their muscles as they scored 1-3 without reply to gain control.

The goal from Jake Corrigan who was a constant thorn in the home side’s rearguard came as the dangerous forward took advantage of some slack defending before shooting past Sean Boyd in between the sticks for Dicksboro.

The Boro replied with a point via Liam Moore but it was their Lilywhite opponents who were in full control by the time of Niall Ward’s half-time whistle as Corrigan and Swords continued to do damage as they led 1-7 to 0-3 at the break.

Swords and Josh Gannon increased the Caragh advantage to nine points in the opening stages of the second half and while Bill Sheehan did respond for Dicksboro, his effort proved to be the Kilkenny side’s last from play.

Caragh really took the game by the scruff of the neck in the final 15 minutes with sub Dan Campbell coming on and getting a brace of goals alongside Jake Corrigan and Ronan Doorey also finding the net.

Dicksboro’s only reply came from frees by Shane Stapleton and Edward Moylan as Caragh secured their passage into the final four where a much stiffer test awaits against the 2022 Leinster champions Fethard (Wexford).

For Dicksboro, it’s the end of the football season and while they will be disappointed at how it finished up, they can still look back on a Kilkenny Senior championship winnning campaign which was their first success since 1997.

Teams and Scorers

Caragh: Jake Corrigan (2-3); Dan Campbell (2-0); Ronan Doorey (1-2); Darragh Swords (0-4, 0-2 fs); Josh Gannon (0-1)

Dicksboro: Edward Moylan (0-3, 0-3 fs); Shane Stapleton (0-2, 0-2 fs); Bill Sheehan, Liam Moore (0-1 each)

Caragh: Michael Behan; Cathal McKennedy, Matthew McNally, Billy Byrne; Conor Sullivan, Ryan Burke, Paul Dockery; Kevin Connor, Liam Blake; Josh Gannon, Darragh Swords, Dan Murray; Ronan Doorey, Jake Corrigan, Austin Nevin.

Subs: Joe Barrett for Sullivan, 45 mins; Dan Campbell for Nevin, 45 mins; Fergal McKennedy for Gannon, 50 mins; Billy Kelly for Murray, 51 mins; Ronyn O’Brien for Blake, 54 mins.

Dicksboro: Seán Boyd; Eoghan Moylan, Niall Rowe, Seán Keenan; Joe Sheehan, Cillian Buckley, James Carroll; Eoin Fennelly, Kevin Moore; Bill Sheehan, Liam Moore, Shane Stapleton; Edward Moylan, Darragh Holohan, Mark Nolan.

Subs: Cillian Hackett for M Nolan, h-t; Kevin Nolan for Holohan, h-t; Jesse Walters for Buckley, 56 mins; Conor Fitzpatrick for Moore, 56 mins.

Referee: Niall Ward (Westmeath)