GAA: Hat-trick for Kilkenny club player on dream senior debut
A performance that has Kilkenny talking after the first match of the St Canice's Credit Union Senior Hurling League
It will be a senior club debut that will live long in the memory for Ruarc Sweeney after he scored a hat-trick of goals for O’Loughlin Gaels against city rivals Dicksboro.
O’Loughlin’s were up and running almost immediately with Ruarc Sweeney’s opening goal arriving after only three minutes of play when he batted the sliotar past Darragh Holohan in the ‘Boro goal.
Dicksboro did level up matters a couple of minutes later when Mark Nolan found the bottom corner of the net despite shooting off balance but with Greg Kelly and David McGee scoring down the other end, Brian Hogan’s team led 3-2 to 1-3.
A fourth O’Loughlin’s goal followed soon after when Sweeney grabbed his second major of the half and the John’s Park outfit were running riot at this stage.
Dicksboro did end the half well with Patrick Lacey goaling and Shane Stapleton, Tom McPhillips and Padraic Moylan splitting the posts to leave just a point between them at the interval.
The second half was nip and tuck to begin with and it was only when Sweeney wrapped up his hat-trick inside the final quarter that O’Loughlin’s got real breathing space on the scoreboard and it was around this time that Fionan Mackessy knocked over a couple of huge points from distance.
Full match report on that clash below (under the ad):
Ruarc Sweeney was on the Kilkenny Under-20 squad this year and he looks a real find for O’Loughlin Gaels, who are currently short of a number of first team regulars.
The first senior league game of the season attracted a large crowd to Castlecomer and it was the performance of the O’Loughlin’s new kids on the blocks that got everyone talking.
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