Kilkenny IHL- The Village cruise to impressive win over Blacks and Whites
James Stephens 5-28 Blacks and Whites 1-15
James Stephens kicked off their Michael Lyng Motors Hyundai Intermediate Hurling League campaign with an emphatic 25 point victory over Blacks and Whites on Saturday evening.
A hat-trick of goals via Matthew McWey inside the opening 10 minutes laid the platform for the winners and with Luke Scanlon adding two more in the second half, Eoin Larkin’s side were much too good.
As well as the goalscorers, there was also huge displays from Cian Kenny and Ed Lauhoff as the championship favourites outclassed their opposition.
The day and contest as a whole was even summed up with James Stephens goalkeeper Sean Manogue grabbing three points from play with 10 players on target for the Kilkenny city side overall.
Blacks and Whites got a late consolation goal from Ryan Murphy to keep things respectable and they’ll know that their season won’t be determined against opposition as strong as the Village.
James Stephens raced out of the blocks in the Group B clash and after only six minutes, they had already registered 1-4 on the scoreboard.
Storming run
Cian Kenny, Oisin Bateman, Sean Manogue and Luke Scanlon all pointed in that early spell before Matthew McWey go the first of the game’s goal after he finished to the net on the back of a storming run upfield from Eoin Guilfoyle.
Aaron Foley then registered Blacks and Whites first point via a free but with McWey quickly lashing in two more goals, the warning lights were flashing as James Stephens took control.
With a sizeable wind at their backs, the Village knocked over scores from all angles with Ed Lauhoff in particular standing out at full-forward during this period as last year’s beaten county finalists piled on the pressure.
Outside of Foley, Blacks and Whites were able to add on points from John Lennon and Sam Byrne but it was only brief respite with James Stephens running riot on the scoreboard as they knocked over the final five points of the half.
Sean Manogue with his third score of the half showcased his ability in knocking over points from his own half and with Niall Delaney, Cian Kenny and Tadhg O’Dwyer also scoring, the game was over as a contest when the half-time whistled as the scoreline read 3-17 to 0-9 in favour of James Stephens.
Rampant
The rampant James Stephens display continued in the opening minutes of the second half with Lauhoff, O’Dwyer and Kenny extending their tallies before Luke Scanlon took advantage of a mishap in the Blacks and Whites defence to slot home a fourth goal in the 39th minute.
Eddie Scally’s beaten team remained competitive with Aaron Foley, Sam Byrne and Jason Byrne splitting the posts.
While it’s hard to take anything of note out of the game, the Ed Lauhoff display is something that will have pleased the James Stephens faithful and with four points from play in the second half, the underage Kilkenny star looks like he could be a huge asset in attack going forward.
A second Luke Scanlon goal and points from O’Dwyer, Guilfoyle and Sean Deely increased the advantage even further going into the final few minutes but the Village will be disappointed that they allowed a Ryan Murphy 21-yard free find its way to the net in stoppage time even if it was deserved for the Blacks and Whites application throughout the 60 minutes.
Aside from the result, one of the more notable aspects of the game was the placing of Cian Kenny in the heart of the James Stephens defence in similar vein to the 2025 camapign and while it’s hard to judge on one league game, the Kilkenny player’s quarter-back type role has the ability to bring the club to the next level.
Teams and Scorers
James Stephens: Matthew McWey (3-0); Luke Scanlon (2-2); Ed Lauhoff (0-7); Cian Kenny (0-6, 4fs); Tadhg O’Dwyer (0-5, 2fs); Sean Manogue (0-3); Eoin Guilfoyle (0-2); Sean Deely, Oisin Bateman, Niall Delaney (0-1 each)
Blacks and Whites: Aaron Foley (0-8, 7fs and 1 ‘65); Sam Byrne (0-5); Ryan Murphy (1-0); John Lennon, Jason Byrne (0-1 each)
James Stephens: Sean Manogue; Eoin Deely, James O’Keeffe, Sam McEvoy; Oisin Bateman, Cian Kenny, Luke Murphy; Niall Delaney, Sean Deely; Eoin Guilfoyle, Niall Mullins, Tadhg O’Dwyer; Luke Scanlon, Ed Lauhoff, Matthew McWey.
Subs: Willie Spencer for McWey, 38 mins; Ben Lawlor for Murphy, 41 mins; Stephen Manogue for Mullins, 43 mins; Ed McDermott for Scanlon, 49 mins.
Blacks and Whites: Keelan O’Grady; Jamie Ryan, Seanan Doyle, Tommy Joyce; Daire Murphy, Ian Foley, Michael Prendergast; Aaron Foley, Niall Kennedy; Martin Kelly, John Lennon, James Whitty; Sam Byrne, Ryan Murphy, Jason Byrne.
Subs: Louis Brennan for Whitty, h-t; Shaun Greene for N.Kennedy, h-t; Joe Kelly for I.Foley, 44 mins; James Kennedy for Lennon, 47 mins.
Referee: Vivienne Holmes