Kilkenny IHL- Village goals break Tullogher-Rosbercon resistance 

James Stephens (The Village) secured their second win of the league stages on Saturday evening, overcoming a resilient Tullogher-Rosbercon in a well-presented Inistioge.

It was far from smooth sailing for the Village, with the dogged South Kilkenny team proving a difficult obstacle.

The comfortable winning margin would have been difficult to envisage at half-time, with James Stephens holding a narrow three-point lead (1-9 to 0-9) after a fiercely contested and physical opening half.

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But, as the old cliché goes, goals win matches, and Eoin Guilfoyle served up a second-half hat-trick to guide his team to the nine-point victory.

Three goals in the space of just five minutes, between the 41st and 46th minutes, proved to be Tullogher-Rosbercon’s undoing as the game swung decisively in their opponents’ favour. A point from Walter Walsh offered only brief consolation, doing little to stem the tide as the deficit opened up to 4-12 to 0-13 with 14 minutes remaining.

Leigh O’Brien’s team’s hopes of a recovery were not helped by the sending off of Pat Hartley for two yellow card offences. The second card arrived just eight minutes into the new half. Referee Vivienne Holmes spotted the rash but undeliberate challenge, with the Bennettsbridge official punishing the infringement.

Despite being 11 points adrift with six minutes to play, the 14 men finished the game the stronger, outscoring their city opponents by 0-4 to 0-1 as Danny Glennon and Conor Hennessy scored a brace.

Just two points from the Village in the final 15 minutes, after they scored their fourth goal, will no doubt be a small point of frustration for Jackie Tyrrell and Eoin Larkin.

The match failed to ever take off, with stoppages for various infringements the order of things. Two points apiece from Cian Kenny (James Stephens) and Michael Sidney (Tullogher Rosbercon) had the teams deadlocked after five minutes.

The defining score of the half came just two minutes later. A long delivery from Kenny caught Davy Walsh off guard as the Tullogher Rosbercon goalkeeper failed to bring the sliotar under control. Tadhg O’Dwyer capitalised on the mistake to tap to the net (1-2 to 0-3).

Both sides were on song in front of goal for the remainder of the half, with that single goal all that separated them at the break (1-9 to 0-9). Luke Scanlon (0-3), Tadhg O’Dwyer (0-4f) for James Stephens and Danny Glennon (0-3, 0-2f) for Tullogher Rosbercon were the scorers in chief for their teams in that period.

The second half began in much the same vein. Three Tadhg O’Dwyer frees for the Village men were balanced out by three well-crafted points from play for Tullogher Rosbercon, as Danny Glennon, Marty Murphy and Walter Walsh all raised white flags (1-10 to 0-12 after 41 minutes).

However, a goal-hungry Eoin Guilfoyle soon brought an end to the match as a contest. The quick-fire goals deflated Tullogher Rosbercon and quickly turned both sets of supporters’ attention to the next round of games in two weeks’ time.

Teams and Scorers

James Stephens – Eoin Guilfoyle (3-0); Tadhg O’Dwyer (1-7, 0-5f); Cian Kenny (0-3, 0-2 f), Luke Scanlon (0-3); Ed Lauhoff (0-1).

Tullogher Rosbercon – Danny Glennon (0-6, 0-4f); Conor Hennessy, Walter Walsh (0-3 each); Michael Sidney (0-2); Jamie Lyng, Andrew Murphy, Marty Murphy, (0-1 each).

James Stephens – Sean Manogue; Dara Behan, Sam McEvoy, Niall Delaney; Eoin Deeley, Cian Kenny, Jamie O’Keeffe; Niall Mullins, Oisin Bateman; Tadhg O’Dwyer, Luke Scanlon, Sean Deeley; Ed Lauhoff, Ed McDermott, Eoin Guilfoyle.

Subs Used – Shane Donohoe, Luke Murphy, Stephen Manogue, Willie Spencer.

Tullogher Rosbercon – Davy Walsh; Niall Mooney, Donnacha O’Connor, Sean Murray; Pat Hartley, Lar Murphy, Anthony O’Connor; Jamie Lyng, Conor Hennessy; Marty Murphy, Danny Glennon, Michael Sidney; James Cummins, Walter Walsh, Ciaran Cummins.

Subs Used – Andrew Murphy, Cathal Mooney.

Referee – Vivienne Holmes (Bennettsbridge)