Freshford maintain intermediate status with big win over St Martin's
St Lachtain’s 0-22 St Martin’s 0-12
St Lachtain’s put behind a dissapointing league campaign as they ran out comprehensive winners over a lacklustre St Martin’s side in the Michael Lyng Motors Hyundai Intermediate Hurling Championship relegation play-off on Sunday afternoon.
The Freshford outfit won the All-Ireland junior title as recently as 2025 and they maintained their place in the second tier of Kilkenny hurling with an accomplished display over their fellow North Kilkenny opponents.
In truth it proved to be a pretty drab affair with St Lachtain’s turning on the style in the second period as Paddy Killeen, Cian Donnelly, Shane Donnelly and Cathal O’Leary all caught the eye in the 10 point success.
Andy Kearns team now march into a bit of bonus territory when they compete in the quarter-finals of the championship this weekend while the status for St Martin’s is a bit more bleak as they’ve one more game to avoid relegation to the junior ranks when they face Blacks and Whites in a few weeks time.
Whatever about the poor display in defeat, the injury list looks to be mounting for Martin’s with Michael Keane and Sean Hunt both going off on Sunday and they will need every hand on deck for a season defining clash in the relegation final.
Martin’s opened the brighter with goalkeeper Oisin Kelly converting a free from inside his own half before St Lachtain’s responded with points via Cathal O’Leary and Shane Donnelly either side of Donnelly also going close for goal when his flicked effort was well parried by Kelly in the Martin’s goal.
St Martin’s then retook the lead when James O’Neill split the posts with two lovely efforts from play but St Lachtain’s ensured it was only short-lived joy with Cathal O’Leary, Paddy Killeen and Cian Donnelly scoring in succession as the Freshford side opened up a 0-5 to 0-3 advantage.
A pair of Shane Kinsella frees and a Sean Hunt score from a difficult angle helped Martin’s cancel out Cathal O’Leary’s third point of the half and with the teams deadlocked at 0-6 apiece by the 18th minute, it looked all to play for.
This proved to be the golden spell for the Coon/Muckalee team as they would only score six more points over the remaining 40 plus minutes of action as St Lachtain’s began to dominate proceedings.
A quickfire four points on the trot between the 20th and 29th minutes got the ball rolling with Paddy Killeen scoring twice including a beautifully floated sideline cut in addition to efforts from O’Leary and Cian Donnelly.
Points from Shane Kinsella and Jack Coogan helped St Martin’s stay in touch but with O’Leary and Darragh Maher also finding the range for St Lachtain’s, there was four points seperating the sides at the break (0-12 to 0-8).
Freshford extended the lead immediately upon the resumption as Cian Donnelly pointed within seconds of the throw-in for the second half and the talented centre-forward could have had even more joy after he had an attempt at goal saved by Oisin Kelly a couple of minutes later.
A Shane Kinsella free in the 34th minute got Martin’s back to within four but St Lachtain’s were in a rampant mood at this stage and another three points on the trot which all arrived from Cathal O’Leary all but put the game beyond the reach of St Martin’s.
Such was St Martin’s struggles that they didn’t even score from play in the second period with all four points arriving from Shane Kinsella frees as St Lachtain’s gradually pushed the lead out further.
Alexander Rafter put down a marker for selection the next day when scoring two points off the bench and with Paddy Killeen and Shane Donnelly continuing to score heavily from play, the final 10 point victory was wrapped up well before the final whistle.
A tale of two clubs going in different directions as St Lachtain’s march on and Martin’s remain fighting for their lives.
Teams and Scorers
St Lachtain’s: Cathal O’Leary (0-8, 3fs and 1 ‘65); Paddy Killeen, Cian Donnelly (0-4 each); Shane Donnelly (0-3); Alexander Rafter (0-2); Darragh Maher (0-1)
St Martin’s: Shane Kinsella (0-7, 7fs); James O’Neill (0-2); Oisin Kelly (0-1, 1f); Jack Coogan, Sean Hunt (0-1 each)
St Lachtain’s: Darren Brennan; Shane Dawson, Croimhthann Bergin, Conor Dalton; Padraig Donnelly, Cathal Hickey, Simon Rafter; Brian Kennedy, Mark Donnelly; Paddy Killeen, Cian Donnelly, Cathal O’Leary; Shane Donnelly, Bobby Darcy, Darragh Maher.
Subs: Alexander Rafter for Darcy, 47 mins; Cian Dawson for S.Donnelly, 60 mins.
St Martin’s: Oisin Kelly; Matthew Bolger, Tristan Roche, Tadhg Gill; Michael Ruane, Colin Hayes, Dan Comerford; Shane Kinsella, Justin Manning; Michael Keane, Jack Coogan, Cormac Quirke; Paddy Coughlan, Sean Hunt, James O’Neill.
Subs: Donal Shore for Keane, 10 mins; Thomas Shore for Bolger, h-t; Ollie Walsh for Hunt, 41 mins; Ross Dowling for Quirke, 41 mins.
Referee: Peter Burke