Lisdowney crowned shield champions with win over Rower Inistioge

​Lisdowney’s championship preparations received a significant boost on Saturday afternoon, beating their southern opponents comprehensively to win the secondary competition of the league stages.

In what was a tame affair at UPMC Nowlan Park, the winners were never really troubled as both sides experimented ahead of their championship quarter-finals this weekend.

Lisdowney finished second in Group B of the league stages, with their only defeat coming at the hands of James Stephens.

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The Rower-Inistioge, meanwhile, used the fixture as an opportunity to fully assess their options ahead of their quarter-final encounter. Martin Byrne made seven changes to his side before throw-in as they look to build on a Group A campaign that yielded three wins, a draw and a defeat from their five matches.

The opening quarter was competitive, with both sides scoring some eye-catching scores and missing some guilt-edge opportunities.

Charlie Brennan offered the greatest threat for Lisdowney in the opening ten minutes, raising three white flags (0-7 to 0-4).

The winners began to take an increasingly firm grip on the final as the first half wore on. Five different scorers found their range over the next 12 minutes, with Eoghan Lyng providing the only Rower Inistioge response (0-12 to 0-5) after 24 minutes.

Perhaps illustrating the lack of intensity was a seven-minute spell during which neither side managed to score.

Brian Kavanagh and Michael Kenny gave Lisdowney a nine-point advantage on the brink of half-time.

Kevin Murphy closed the half with a point for the Rower Inistioge in the dying minutes, their first in a remarkable 18 minutes. (0-14 to 0-6 at half-time).

Any slim hopes of a Rower Inistioge comeback were put to bed early in the second period as Luke Holohan netted the game’s opening goal (1-15 to 0-6).

That margin got wider with a hat-trick of points to leave the scoreline (1-18 to 0-6) with 21 minutes to play.

The Rower Inistioge did make several changes to stem the Lisdowney tide, and relative to the context of the match, proved effective.

Both Richie Leahy (1-6) and Ned Spellman made significant improvements in the scoring stakes as well as from general play. A shot at goal from Spellman, rebounded into Leahy’s path halfway through the second half to narrow the gap (1-18 to 1-7).

However, Richie McEvoy exploited a Patrick Lyng mistake to bag the game’s third goal a short time later (2-18 to 1-9).

The game in truth petered out as the teams traded scores in the final quarter.

Bigger days lie ahead for both.

Teams and Scorers

Lisdowney: Brian Kavanagh (0-6); Charlie Brennan (0-5); Luke Holohan (1-1); Richie McEvoy (1-0); Michael Kenny (0-3); Willie Kenny, Andrew McEvoy (0-2 each); Niall Brennan, Cathal Jordan, David O’Carroll (0-1 each).

Rower Inistioge: Richie Leahy (1-6); Kevin Murphy, Eoghan Lyng (0-2 each); Tom O’Callaghan, Ned Spellman (0-1 each).

Lisdowney: James McEvoy; Marty McEvoy, Richie McEvoy, Lar Campion; Michael Kenny, Vinny Fitzpatrick, Kevin Sweeney; Niall Brennan, Killian Dunne; Andrew McEvoy, Brian Kavanagh, David O’Carroll; Eibhan McEvoy, Luke Holohan, Charlie Brennan.

Subs Used – Willie Kenny, John Brennan, Jack Dunphy, Rob McEvoy, Cathal Jordan.

Rower Inistioge: Patrick Lyng; Paul Kirwan, Eoin Doyle, Ruadhri Delaney; Edward Prendergast, George Murphy, Michael Galavan; Oisin Morrissey, Eoghan Lyng; Tom O’Callaghan, Eoin O’Brien, PJ Mackay; Conor Joyce, Kevin Murphy, Sean Bolger.

Subs Used – Richie Leahy, Ned Spellman, Shane Ryan, Jim Ryan, Patrick Prendergast.

Referee: Julian O’Dwyer (Windgap)