Kilkenny GAA- Lacey fires CBC to early season win over Kieran’s College

Three late Patrick Lacey frees gave Kilkenny CBC some early season bragging rights over St Kieran's College

last Wednesday afternoon.
There was very little between the sides during the round 2 Leinster championship clash with Lacey’s 1-10 overall tally proving crucial on the final result.

The CBC raced out of the blocks and were 0-3 to 0-0 up within two minutes of action after Adam Maher and Luke McDonald scored from play before Lacey converted his first placed ball of the afternoon.

Jake Mullen replied with a pair of efforts for defending Leinster champions St Kieran’s but it was still the CBC who had the early initiative when Lacey with two frees and Ollie O’Donovan extended the gap between the sides.

Trailing 0-6 to 0-2, Kieran’s then began to get a bit of momentum going with successive points from Fionn Mahony, David Barcoe and Conor Holohan leaving just the minimum between the two neighbouring schools.

Lacey’s fourth point of the half in the 22nd minute pushed the CBC advantage back out to two points but the Kieran’s purple patch was only getting going and after Mullen and Gearoid O’Shea found the target to square things up for the first time, Brian Dowling’s team continued to attack with further scores arriving from Ben Nevin, Diarmuid Behan and Fionn Mahony.

Kieran’s led 0-10 to 0-7 as a result but the side in black and white were hit by a sucker punch just before the interval as CBC hit a quickfire 1-1 with Lacey landing a fine point before the Dicksboro star continued his impressive individual performance when driving a shot to the net in stoppage time.

The second half proved to be a bit more scrappy and it took all of seven minutes for the first score with a Lacey free leaving CBC as 1-9 to 0-10 leaders.

Gearoid O’Shea and Ollie O’Donovan then swapped scores before Kieran’s retook the lead in the 42nd minute when O’Shea flicked a shot past Rian Dowling after he claimed the sliotar from a dropping Conor McEvoy free.

Fionn Mahony followed up on the goal with a lovely point to give the All-Ireland record holders a two point buffer but again the CBC battled back with scores from Lacey and Zak O’Halloran.

Back to back frees from David Barcoe and Conor McEvoy looked to have won it for Kieran’s but the CBC had the last say with man of the moment Patrick Lacey scoring three times late on to seal the win.

Teams and Scorers

Kilkenny CBC - Patrick Lacey (1-10, 8fs); Ollie O’Donovan (0-2); Luke McDonald, Adam Maher, Zak O'Halloran (0-1 each).

St Kieran’s College - Gearoid O’Shea (1-2); Fionn Mahony (0-3); Jake Mullen (0-3, 2fs); David Barcoe (0-2, 1f); Conor McEvoy (0-1, 1f); Conor Holohan, Diarmuid Behan, Ben Nevin (0-1 each).

Kilkenny CBC - Rian Dowling; Conor Barcoe, Kealan Barcoe, Ben Henderson; Aidan Cowley, Josh Dowling, Zak O'Halloran; Cian Byrne, Paddy O’Brien; Anthony Clifford, Patrick Lacey, Luke McDonald; Adam Maher, Ollie O’Donovan, Zac Scanlon.

Subs: Joe Dowling for Cowley, 40 mins; Jack Roche for McDonald, 55 mins.

St Kieran’s College - Ruairi Power; Eoin Walpole, Louis Raggett, Luke Lawlor; Larry Phelan, David Barcoe, Bill McDermott; Ben Nevin, Jake Mullen; Conor Holohan, Brian Hickey, Diarmuid Behan; Gearoid O’Shea, Fionn Mahony, Eoin Cahill.

Subs: Conor McEvoy for Holohan, 38 mins; Robert McEvoy for Cahill, 45 mins; Dan Carroll for Hickey, 45 mins; Ned Spellman for Mullen, 59 mins.

Referee - Julian O’Dwyer (Windgap).