Kilkenny GAA: Kieran’s dig deep to reach Leinster colleges final
St Kieran’s College 0-22, Good Counsel 0-14
The senior hurlers from St Kieran’s College booked their place in another Leinster final, but had to dig deep to shake off a stubborn Good Counsel side in Tullogher.
The New Ross school, sprinkled with a number of Kilkenny hurlers, made life difficult for the Saints - but couldn’t find the killer score to really trouble their rivals.
Having trailed by seven points at half-time (0-13 to 0-6) a strong run of five unanswered points - two came from Kilkenny senior intercounty panellist Darragh Vereker - saw Counsel cut the gap to two by the 37th minute (0-13 to 0-11).
However Kieran’s didn’t panic and, with the help of an impressive Ed Lauhoff point and two scores from the lively Noah Manogue (one free), they stretched their lead again.
Manogue was the man in form during the first half, hitting five points for the College (two frees) with Jake Mullen and the hard-working Mikey Rohan also getting on the scoresheet. For Counsel Sean O’Brien led the way, converting three frees and a 65 to add to a point scored from play.
Good Counsel raised their game again in the final quarter, but couldn’t make their efforts count. Andrew Murphy and Thomas Cummins both went close to scoring goals in a matter of minutes, but netminder Luke Lawlor came to the rescue with two great saves to dent the Wexford school’s hopes.
Kieran’s weathered the storm and used the strength of their bench to see the game out. John Fitzpatrick and Bill McDermott came on and made their presence felt, the duo scoring a brace apiece as they helped the Saints rack up a solid win.
Full report in next week’s People Sport.
SCORERS
St Kieran’s College - Noah Manogue (0-9, 0-5 frees); Ed Lauhoff (0-3); Jake Mullen (0-2, frees); Jim Conlon, John Fitzpatrick, Bill McDermott (0-2 each); Sean Deely, Mikey Rohan (0-1 each).
Good Counsel - Sean O’Brien (0-9, 0-4 frees, 0-2 65); Darragh Vereker (0-2); Colm Kavanagh, Jack Dollard, Andrew Murphy (0-1 each).