ROUND-UP: County hurling league gets off the ground with good opening weekend of fixtures

The first round of this year’s FBD Insurance County Hurling Leagues got underway in stuttered fashion as several fixtures fell foul of poor weather over the weekend which is causing havoc with pitch availability currently. 

While some matches were postponed due to the conditions, plenty of games still took place over St. Patrick’s weekend with some good contests taking place as the club action got out of the blocks.

In Division 1, Group 1, the clash between Kiladangan and Drom & Inch was delayed until this coming Friday but two other games did get off the ground with first, Clonoulty Rossmore coasting to an easy win over Nenagh Éire Óg in MacDonagh Park, Nenagh.

Despite Nenagh getting off to a good start in the game where they rushed into a 0-4 to nil lead after five minutes, Clonoulty dominated the game and were well in the ascendancy by half-time with goals from Stephen Ferncombe and Robert Doyle putting the West club ahead 2-12 to 0-10 at the break.

The second half was a breeze for the Clonoulty men and further goals from Jack Ryan - who finished with a personal tally of 1-4 - and substitute Thomas Butler copperfastened the win with Clonoulty fielding a strong team which included regulars Conor Hammersley and Enda Heffernan from the start which ended in a 4-21 to 0-16 win.

In the other game in the group, Toomevara getting the better of historic rivals Thurles Sarsfields in Killinan on Sunday morning, coming out winners by 1-20 to 1-17.

Jack Delaney was in top form for the Greyhounds here and had hit four of his total of 0-6 within the first five minutes of the game and it contributed to a strong start for his side with Shane Nolan (0-9, 0-8f), Robbie Quirke (0-2), and David Nolan (0-2) all finding the target in the opening half as Toome led 0-12 to 0-10 at the interval.

Aidan McCormack (0-7f) was the main score-getter for Thurles Sarsfields but they were chasing the game continually as Toome started the second half strongly to rush into a big 1-19 to 0-12 lead after Conor O’Meara bagged a goal from the bench after 48 minutes to put them in a commanding position.

Eoin Purcell did well all game and he, along with Cian Stakelum hit some late scores to put a sheen of respectability on the final score, with the former bagging a last-minute goal to put the Thurles men within three points, but it was too little too late for the Sars’.

Moving on to Group 2, only one game was played here with Kilruane MacDonaghs clinching a 1-19 to 0-11 win over an understrength JK Brackens side.

This clash was tightly fought in the first half with Kilruane MacDonaghs taking a one-point lead by half-time with a from former goalkeeper Paidi Williams after ten minutes the big score of the half, but contributions from Shane Doyle, Ned Walsh, and the frees of Lyndon Fairbrother kept the Templemore men in touch.

However, the Kilruane men started to pull away early in the second half and got on top of their opponents as Kieran Cahill (0-5), Paidi Williams (1-2), and Willie Cleary (0-5, 0-4f) all led the scoring for the North Tipp club.

Good performances from the aforementioned trio along with the presence of recent Tipp senior panelists Niall O’Meara and Kian O’Kelly proved to be too much for the Brackens.

Finally, for the Division 1 action, two games took place in Group 3 with Killenaule churning out a massive win over Templederry Kenyons in Templederry on Sunday afternoon, scoring heavily in a dominant performance to notch a 2-28 to 3-16 win.

The other game in the group was a little closer in terms of the final total, with Lorrha continuing their 2023 form in their first competitive game this year, beating fellow North Tipp club Roscrea in Roscrea on Sunday on a 0-21 to 1-13 scoreline.

Five points was a flattering result all told for Roscrea as Lorrha dominated the majority of the contest with Colm Fogarty (0-11, 0-6f), Eoin McIntyre (0-5), and Cian Hogan (0-3) the key tormentors of Ros’ on the day.

Lorrha dominated the first half and led by double scores at 0-14 to 0-7 with the Roscrea scores coming mainly from Dan Ryan (0-4) and Conor Dooley (0-3), but they couldn’t find others to contribute often enough, and by the 53rd minute they men in red trailed 0-21 to 0-11.

They managed to put some respectability on the final score with a late 1-2 salvo in the remaining time as Liam Seacy bagged a late 21-yard free, but the results was never in doubt.

Moving on to Division 2, Group 1 had two games played, first with the tie between Éire Óg Annacarty and Gortnahoe Glengoole played on Saturday with the West club coming out on top by 4-17 to 2-14 in Annacarty.

The other game on Sunday saw St. Mary’s get over an understrength Burgess outfit on Clonmel Sportsfield with Ruairi Leahy the scorer-in-chief for the Clonmel club, with able assistance from Ross Slattery, Ross Peters, and Michael Murphy.

Burgess were missing numerous regulars for this encounter but they did have good efforts from the likes of Eoin Grace (0-3, 0-1f) and Garrett Howard (0-2), but there was no doubt where the two points were going in this game from an early stage.

Meanwhile, in Group 2, Boherlahan Dualla had a fine victory over Moyne Templetuohy at home and had four points to spare as they ran out 1-19 to 0-18 victors.

Finally, in Division 3, Moneygall and Portroe had wins in their league openers against Knockavilla Kickhams and Borrisokane respectively while Golden Kilfeacle and Drom & Inch ended all square on a 0-15 to 1-12 scoreline.

Moneygall were again well served by the Fogarty brothers Joe and Paddy who bagged the two goals in their 2-14 to 0-14 win, while the likes of Adam Hogan, Niall Maher, Tadhg Whyte, Dylan Maher, and Mark Fanning all hit the target in a wide range of scoring threats from their forwards. 

Portroe got their season off to a winning start in a facile fashion as they always had a bit to spare over Borrisokane, Sam Madden and Kevin O’Halloran were the main scorers for the Lakesiders, while Oisin Larkin and Mike Heenan impressed for Borrisokane in defeat.