Kilkenny IHL- Gowran on the board with success over St Lachtain’s
Young Irelands 4-18 St Lachtain’s 1-12
Young Irelands got their campaign back on track with a comprehensive 4-18 to 1-12 victory over St Lachtain’s in Round 2 of Group A of the Michael Lyng Motors Hyundai Intermediate League at St Patrick’s Park, Ballyragget, on Saturday afternoon.
Having suffered a narrow opening-round defeat to Dunamaggin, the Gowran men responded in emphatic fashion, leading from start to finish against a St Lachtain’s side that had also come up just short in a one-point loss to Rower-Inistioge the previous weekend.
Young Irelands flew out of the blocks, racing into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead inside six minutes. Paddy Langton, Cian Phelan and a brace from Killian Carey set the tone as they immediately took control.
St Lachtain’s eventually opened their account in the seventh minute through a long- range free from goalkeeper Darren Brennan, before Paddy Killeen added another to cut the deficit.
However, Young Irelands quickly tightened their grip on the contest. Points from Tommy Phelan and Carey preceded the game’s opening goal, as a surging run from Cian Phelan carved open the defence before he squared for Carey, who made no mistake from close range to leave the Gowran side 1-6 to 0-2 in front after twelve minutes.
The Freshford outfit responded through a brace of Cian Donnelly scores, but Seamus Farrell struck Young Irelands second goal in the seventeenth minute after another point from Phelan, stretching the advantage to 2-7 to 0-4.
Tommy Phelan’s two-point burst cancelled out a pair of Donnelly frees before Carey and Shane Donnelly traded late scores, leaving Young Irelands firmly in control at the interval with a 2-10 to 0-8 lead.
St Lachtain’s made an encouraging start to the second half. Donnelly split the posts before his brother Mark embarked on a powerful run through the heart of the defence, laying the ball off for Cian to fire to the net and reduce the deficit to 2-10 to 1-9.
However, any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished when Carey and Farrell restored Young Irelands momentum before Farrell grabbed his second goal of the afternoon, reacting quickest after Paddy Langton’s free broke kindly into his path to make it 3-12 to 1-9.
To their credit, St Lachtain’s continued to battle, with Donnelly adding two more points and Cian Dawson also on target to leave the score at 3-12 to 1-12 with a quarter of the contest remaining.
Young Irelands, however, finished strongly. Cian Phelan capitalised on a mistake by Brennan to fire home their fourth goal, putting the result beyond doubt.
Killian Carey, Keelan Barcoe and Paddy Langton added further points before manager Gary Farrell emptied his bench in the closing stages.
Dylan Carey and substitutes Gavin Manning and Jim Conlon all got on the scoresheet as Young Irelands eased to their first win of the campaign, while St Lachtain’s were left searching for their first points after a second successive defeat.
In Round 3, which takes place in a fortnights time, St Lachtain’s will look to get their campaign up and running when they face Carrickshock in Tullaroan, while Young Irelands will aim to build on this victory when they take on Mooncoin at Páirc na Seamróg.
Teams and Scorers
Young Irelands: Killian Carey 1-6 (3f), Seamus Farrell 2-1, Cian Phelan 1-2, Paddy Langton 0-3, Tommy Phelan 0-3, Keelin Barcoe 0-1, Gavin Manning 0-1, Jim Conlon 0-1, Dylan Carey 0-1.
St Lachtain’s: Cian Donnelly 1-6 (5f), Darren Brennan 0-1 (1f), Paddy Killeen 0-1, Cathal O’Leary 0-1, Shane Donnelly 0-1, Cian Dawson 0-1.
Young Irelands: Jason Brennan; Sam Brennan, Geoff Brennan, Bobbie Brennan; Jim Conlon, Paddy Langton, Michael Walsh; Cian Phelan, Thomas Langton; Padraig Naddy, Seamus Farrell, Tommy Phelan; Dylan Carey, Ted Drea, Killian Carey.
Subs: Keelin Barcoe for P Naddy (46 mins), Gavin Manning for Ted Drea (54 mins) and Jim Conlon for T Phelan (54 mins).
St Lachtains: Darren Brennan; Conor Dalton, Criomthann Bergin, Jerry Bergin; Padraig Donnelly, Cathal Hickey, Conor Donnelly; Brian Kennedy, Mark Donnelly; Paddy Killeen, Cian Donnelly, Darragh Maher; Cathal O’Leary, Shane Donnelly, Bobby Darcey.
Subs: Cian Dawson for D Maher (Halftime).
Referee: John O’Gorman