Kieran's see off Good Counsel to reach Leinster PPS Semi-Finals

St Kieran’s College are safely through to the Corn Ui Dhuill Leinster PPS Semi-finals in the new year after an impressive victory over Good Counsel last Wednesday afternoon.

The victory for the defending Leinster champions and more imortantly the margin of success sees them top the group phase table ahead of both Good Counsel and Kilkenny CBS after each team claimed a win each so it’s a long break now until the end of January for Brian Dowling’s side.

It was a fairly routine outing against the Wexford opponents for Kieran’s who even without Jake Mullen still controlled the game from start to finish.

Goals in each half from Conor McEvoy and Joe Power set the platform for the winners but they were dominant in all areas of the field with Diarmuid Behan and Brian Hickey also standing out with big displays.

In contrast Good Counsel only scored 1-3 from play as they relied heavily on the free-taking of Wexford underage star Sean O’Brien and that alone was never likely to be enough to get a positive resut.

Diarmuid Behan and Sean O’Brien shared the first two points of the game and while Darragh Nolan then nudged the visitors in front, it would be the only time they led throughout the 60 plus minutes.

Kieran’s quickly hit back with 1-5 on the spin as Diarmuid Behan, Brian Hickey and Conor Holohan all pointed before James Stephens man Conor McEvoy found the net on his home ground in the 14th minute.

McEvoy and Hickey then added further to the Kieran’s tally to leave the hosts 1-6 to 0-2 to the good.

This spell of scoring really hurt the New Ross school and they failed to score from play for the rest of the half with only Sean O’Brien frees keeping the scoreboard tapping away.

In that same timeframe, Kieran’s continued to put the foot down with points from frees via Joe Power and efforts from play by Diarmuid Behan, Conor McEvoy, Bill McDermott and Ben Nevin leaving Kieran’s ahead on a 1-12 to 0-7 scoreline at the interval.

Good Counsel did give themselves a route back into the game within a minute of the resumption after Darren Rossiter flyhacked the ball past Cian Dermody and into the net for a much needed goal.

A Sean O’Brien free immediately followed and the side that had five Kilkenny players in their starting lineup appeared to be right back in the game.

O’Brien and Rossiter maintained that momentum for a spell but like in the first half, once Kieran’s got going there was nothing to stop them.

Quickfire scores from Joe Power and Danesfort hotshot Fionn Mahony made it a six point game and when Power then converted a penalty halfway through the half, the game was essentially over as a contest.

In fact Good Counsel only scored once more in the remaining minutes as Behan, Hickey, Power and McDermott all extended their tally late on as Kieran’s cruised to a 12 point victory but they know too well that the serious stuff is yet to come.

Teams and Scorers

St Kieran’s College - Joe Power (1-5, 0-3 frees); Conor McEvoy (1-2); Diarmuid Behan (0-5); Brian Hickey (0-3); Bill McDermott (0-2); Ben Nevin, Conor Holohan, Fionn Mahony (0-1 each)

Good Counsel - Sean O’Brien (0-9, 0-8 frees); Darren Rossiter (1-1); Darragh Nolan (0-1)

St Kieran’s College - Cian Dermody (James Stephens); Eoin Walpole (Bennettsbrige); Ciaran Hickey (Dunnamaggin); Luke Lawlor (Clara); Larry Phelan (James Stephens), David Barcoe (Clara), Bill McDermott (James Stephens); Ben Nevin (Thomastown), Louis Raggett (Dicksboro); Conor Holohan (O’Loughlin Gaels), Brian Hickey (Dunnamaggin), Diarmuid Behan (James Stephens); Conor McEvoy (James Stephens), Fionn Mahony (Danesfort), Joe Power (Clara).

Subs: Rob McEvoy (Lisdowney) for Holohan, 48 mins; Timmy Corr (Danesfort) for Raggett, 53 mins; Cian Doherty (Thomastown) for Mahony, 56 mins; Aidan Keating (Young Irelands) for C.McEvoy, 60 mins.

Good Counsel - Paddy Quigley; Darragh Murphy (Rower Inistioge); Joe McCarthy, Ciaran Cummins (Tullogher Rosbercon); Cian O’Shea (Graiguenamanagh), Eoin O’Neill, PJ Mackey (Rower Inistioge); Peter Sinnott, Finn Dillon; Darragh Nolan, Sean O’Brien, Padraig Devereux; Darren Rossiter, Mikey Codd, Callum O’Connell.

Subs: Sean Hanrahan (Tullogher Rosbercon) for O’Connell, h-t; Liam Murphy for Sinnott, 49 mins; James Reburn for Nolan, 49 mins; Michael Sydney (Tullogher Rosbercon) for S.O’Brien, 56 mins.

Referee - Sean McMahon (Erin’s Own)