Danesfort or Village? Top two eye up a swift return to senior hurling ranks

Two sides recently relegated from the Kilkenny senior hurling championship - James Stephens and Danesfort - will battle it out on Sunday as they aim to seal a return to hurling’s top tier in the county (3pm).

Ever since the Village lost to Glenmore in the relegation final around this time last year, this week would have been marked in the calendar. Their season has run perfectly to date, with eight successive wins for the city side in both league and championship.

History tells us that it’s very difficult to bounce back at the first time of asking, but James Stephens have made little of those statistics to date, boasting an unblemished record under the tutelage of former Kilkenny players Eoin Larkin, Matthew Ruth and Jackie Tyrrell.

The Village are huge favourites for this weekend’s Michael Lyng Motors intermediate final and while the pressure is certainly on, it would still rank as a huge surprise if the Hanrahan Cup is not in their possession come Sunday evening.

Danesfort are stern opposition all the same; even without the services of Richie Hogan, they’ve had a hugely progressive year, making both the league and championship final.

The Village ran out 1-23 to 0-17 winners during that league final with Ed Lauhoff scoring 1-4 from play in a game where the winners rested a couple of players on that occasion.

As a result Adrian Burke’s Danesfort team have a bit of catching up to do, but they’ll certainly go into the final well battle-hardened.

Big displays against Mooncoin and Dunnamaggin have brought Danesfort to this stage and with five goals in total between the two quarter-final and semi-final clashes, there is plenty of optimism for fireworks for anyone heading to the ’Park.

Former Kilkenny underage star and St Kieran’s youngster Anthony Ireland Wall has been one of the club’s main finds. Along with Sam Hayes, Colm Phelan and Brian McDonald, they have put up some big scores thus far.

Cathal Kearney and Cathal O’Neill provide a forceful midfield but it’s the half-back line that has stood out the most throughout the season.

Despite being four years away from the Kilkenny setup, Paul Murphy is arguably in the form of his life. He produced numerous outstanding displays at centre-back and his battle with Luke Scanlon will go a long way to deciding the contest.

Either side of Murphy sit Des Dunne and Daire O’Neill who are both experts at getting up the field for a few scores - that will be needed on Sunday more than ever.

Add in minor players Fionn Mahony and Aiden Cowley providing bench impact and there are lots of things going in Danesfort’s favour.

The biggest issue for the ’Fort is the opposition though. After being relegated for the first time ever last year, the Village look like men on a mission as they aim to return where they feel they belong. The James Stephens management laid down a marker from the start as they nailed down two-time All-Star nominee Cian Kenny as centre-back and it’s worked a trick.

Kenny is equally as proficient in midfield or attack but returning to a solid base has been high on the Village to-do list.

While he’s not the team captain, the 24 year-old is one of the key leaders in the James Stephens ranks and as the only Kilkenny senior representative on the squad, he carries a bit more responsibility.

Kenny’s influence is all over how the team perform but the Village’s big strength is that they don’t rely on any one player and have big performers all over the field.

In attack, Eoin Guilfoyle, Luke Scanlon, Stephen Manogue and Tadhg O’Dwyer are all more than capable and each one in their own right can win a game on any given day.

Oisin Bateman and Jamie O’Keeffe have developed a formidable partnership in the middle of the field and in defence Kenny is ably assisted by Sean Bergin, Niall Delaney and Luke Murphy amongst others but what the city side have more than any other club in the intermediate grade is huge strength in depth.

With the backing of Minor A championship winning squads in both 2023 and 2024 and reaching last year’s Under 21 decider, the Village have huge pedigree coming through the ranks

The likes of Ed Lauhoff, Sam McEvoy and Sean Deely are all more than decent operators if called upon and that type of firepower is a huge asset to the Kells Road outfit.

It’s been rather plain sailing throughout the championship to date from a James Stephens point of view though Young Irelands tested the favourites for a period in the semi-final a few weeks ago.

That in essence is the big challenge on Sunday for Danesfort and if they can stay in the game heading into the final quarter, then they may trust the fact of being in numerous tight clashes getting them over the line.

Danesfort will give it everything on the day but no matter what way you look at it, it’s hard to get away from the Village and they should prevail in the end even if it’s closer than many expect.