Shine stars brightest as St.Kierans overcome Kilkenny CBS in city derby

It is five years since these famed Kilkenny City hurling nurseries met in a knock-out senior championship game and on this occasion, it was St. Kieran’s that deservedly made it through the All-Ireland Quarter-Final where they will meet Gort Community School on Sat. 19th Feb.

The Kieran’s and Kilkenny CBS game was originally fixed for UPMC Nowlan Park, but was shifted to the back pitch in St. John’s Park less than twenty-four hours before throw-in. Full credit to the O’Loughlin Gaels GAA Club for the arrangements, but a big game of this importance deserved a different setting, particularly as over six hundred patrons attended the game. To the credit of both sets of supporters they were exemplary in their behaviour. 

Kilkenny CBS were dealt a huge blow before the game when their outstanding defender, Gearoid Dunne, was unable to start. St. Kieran’s on the other hand were able to welcome back Donagh Murphy to their attack after the Mount Leinster Rangers player missed the recent Leinster Semi-Final against Dublin South Schools due to an injury.

Kilkenny CBS had wind advantage in the opening half, but the accuracy of Harry Shine from placed balls put Kieran’s into an early lead with two points.  Despite enjoying plenty of possession the CBS attack struggled for scores, and it took the James Street school eight minutes to open their account with a Bill Walton point. 

Harry Shine and Donagh Murphy continued to torment the CBS defence scoring good points, but by the end of the first quarter Bill Walton and Cathal Beirne narrowed the margin, with the score now 0-6 to 0-3 in favour of Kieran’s. The intensity grew as the game moved into the second quarter with the winner’s ability to set up scores key to their victory.

Anthony Ireland-Wall, the stand-out midfielder in this game, popped over another Kieran’s point on eighteen minutes. The CBS were continuing to stay on the coat tails of their opponents with an inspirational point from Rory O’Connor one of the scores of the first half. 

Kieran’s had a big let-off on twenty minutes when a blistering shot from Mikey Stynes crashed off the crossbar and was cleared. In the closing stages of the first half Bill Walton and Mikey Stynes pointed for the CBS with Luke Connellan and Ted Dunne responding for the winners to leave Kieran’s ahead 0-10 to 0-7 at the interval.

Although Bill Walton pointed a free for the CBS immediately on the restart after a Kieran’s defender was penalised for handling the ball in the ground, the winners dominated for much of the second half. Key to that second half dominance was a brace of well-worked goals which put the game out of the reach of the CBS.

The first came on five minutes. It started with a long distance free from Richard McEvoy into the corner where the alert Harry Shine, who at this stage was being marked by his club colleague Charlie Nolan, gained possession, and spotted the flying Donagh Murphy heading towards the CBS goal. The corner forward brilliantly controlled Shine’s pass to shoot past Niall Holland and into the net.

The second goal arrived in the 46th minute, another well-worked score which was finished to the net by Anthony Ireland-Wall after a Harry Shine shot had been brilliantly saved by the CBS goalie Niall Holland. There was no way back for the CBS at that stage, but there was a lot to admire about the team’s attitude as they continued to battle bravely to the finish.

No one worked harder than Cillian Hackett and his build up play helped to engineer a goal for his team close to the end of the game with Mikey Stynes pulling first time on a loose ball close to goal. It was a score the efforts of the CBS players deserved, but with Joe Fitzpatrick, Richard McEvoy and Naoise Dempsey strong on the winner’s half back line, the path to goal was well sealed by the winner’s defence.

Despite coming under constant pressure, the CBS defence worked hard to manage the winner’s attack with Billy O’Neil and Rory O’Connor defiant from start to finish.

This was a more assured display from Kieran’s, and they are in good fettle heading into the Quarter-Final against Gort. There is still plenty of scope for improvement and they will be hoping to have the injured trio of Bill Hughes, Paudie Lennon and Paddy Langton, all recent Kilkenny minors, available for the next day.

Teams and Scorers

St. Kieran’s- Harry Shine (0-11, 0-6 Frees & 0-1 ’65); Anthony Ireland-Wall (1-3); Donagh Murphy (1-1); Ted Dunne, Luke Connellan & Killian Carey (0-1, each).

Kilkenny CBS- Bill Walton (0-5, 0-3 Frees); Mikey Stynes (1-1); Cillian Hackett (0-2), Cathal Beirne & Rory O’Connor (0-1, each).

St. Kieran’s- Alan Dunphy; Jack Butler; Adam O’Connor; Sean Moore; Richard McEvoy; Joe Fitzpatrick; Naoise Dempsey; Anthony Ireland-Wall; Killian Doyle; Luke Connellan; Conor Cody; Ben Whitty; Donagh Murphy; Ted Dunne; Harry Shine.

Subs used – Padraig Naddy; James Carroll; Killian Carey; Alex Sheridan & Tommy Phelan. 

Kilkenny CBS- Niall Holland; Tadgh Gill; Luca Lolli; Rory O’Connor; Kevin Moore; Billy O’Neill; Ciaran Phelan; Fionn Hogan; Charlie Nolan; Bill Walton; Cathal Beirne; Evan Buggy; Mikey Stynes; Cillian Hackett; Ivan Bolger.

Subs used – Greg Kelly; Cillian Norton & Paddy Collins.

Referee – Gearoid McGrath (Wexford).