Jack Dwan leads his side to Junior A county success in a fine performance in Borris-Ileigh

FBD Insurance Junior A Hurling Championship Final

Holycross Ballycahill 2-21

Kiladangan 2-12

Holycross Ballycahill’s second team will ply their trade at the Intermediate grade in 2026 after a commanding and comprehensive performance to best Kiladangan in the FBD Insurance Junior A Hurling Championship final in Borris-Ileigh on Saturday afternoon.

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The underage stream of talent funnelling through from the juvenile ranks has paved the way for this success for the Mid club, who took their chances throughout the game, with Jack Dwan again proving to be the match-winner.

Leading 1-8 to 1-3 at the interval, Kiladangan threatened at a few points in the third quarter to stage the comeback required - reducing the arrears to three points on a couple of occasions - but Holycross always had the response with the scoring threat spread around the park, the big difference in the wind up.

Holycross were full value for the win as there was a big degree of comfort for them in terms of the scoreline going into the final ten minutes, but Kiladangan will look back with huge regrets on their first-half performance.

In that time, they hit an unforgivable total of 13 wides, playing with the wind as it was blowing into the far corner. Some of those wides were very poor misses that completely sucked the momentum and life out of their efforts, and it came back to bite them.

Played in blustery autumn conditions, the first quarter of the game was a cagey one with Kiladangan operating with Johnny Horan as a spare man at times, with Holycross looking to better team in that time as the wides began to mount early for Kiladangan.

They led 1-1 to 0-3 after 11 minutes thanks to a well-taken goal from Eoghan Sharkey, who lashed home from close range after a brilliant flick from DJ McGrath sent him clear on goal.

Again, it has to be emphasised that the Kiladangan wides in this period were critical as they had plenty of scoring opportunities, and while they had the radar malfunctioning, the Holycross attackers were having more joy with Jack Dwan hitting some lovely frees along with class scores from Jamie Woods and Daire Ryan.

Jack Dwan pushed his side into a spring in the 17th minute too, showing massive pace to burn a brace of Kiladangan defenders down the right wing before blasting a shot to the far top corner past a despairing Eoin Meagher.

Two of the next three points followed for the Mid champions, with Stevie Flanagan bagging a first, followed by Shane Gleeson’s first from play, and after Jack Dwan pointed his fourth free, they had a 1-7 to 1-3 lead.

Darren Moran was denied a second goal for his side in the 24th minute; Tomas Comerford repelling his shot from point-blank range, and with Jack Dwan flighting over the final point of the half in added time, it was Holycross in full control as Kiladangan went into the dressing room having amassed 13 first-half wides.

With the assistance of the breeze in the second half, Holycross picked off three fine points inside six minutes, but they were all around three scores for Kiladangan as Shane Gleeson’s two frees and a major from Ronan Ducie had the North side in contention.

They were getting a head of steam now and were finally finding the target with more of their efforts as another Gleeson free was quickly followed by a first Eoghan Sharkey point to reduce the gap to three points with ample time remaining on the 40-minute mark.

Shane Ryan and substitute Bill Cleary traded points some after to maintain that gap, but this would be the closest that Kiladangan would come to their opponents for the remainder, as the scoring power of the Holycross team took its toll in the final quarter.

Jack Dwan was the main man again, hitting three points in a 0-6 to 0-1 scoring blast up to the 50th minute, with Ben Hennessy also hitting form at the right time with two of those scores; Holycross leading well at 1-18 to 1-11 with ten to go.

There was late excitement with a couple of goals hitting the net - one on either side - first from Jamie Lee Dwan, who flashed a fine finish to the net in the 57th minute, before Kiladangan responded instantly from the resulting puckout with Bill Cleary latching onto a break to fire home.

That was mere consolation from Cleary, though as the time was against them and fittingly, it was Holycross captain Tony Leahy who wrapped up the scoring with a point on the stroke of the 60th minute to put the gloss on the victory and secure a richly-deserved victory

Scorers: Holycross Ballycahill: Jack Dwan (1-9, 0-7f), Jamie Lee Dwan 1-0, Tony Leahy, Jamie Woods, Ben Hennessy, Mickey Jo Doyle, Shane Ryan all 0-2 each, Daire Ryan, Stevie Flanagan 0-1 each.

Kiladangan: Shane Gleeson (0-8, 0-7f), Eoghan Sharkey, Bill Cleary 1-1 each, Jos Slattery, Ronan Ducie 0-1 each. 

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Holycross Ballycahill: Tomas Comerford; Sean McGrath, Conor Ryan (H), Pa O’Dwyer; Daire Ryan, Eoin Morris, Shane Ryan; Mickey Jo Doyle, Jamie Lee Dwan; Tony Leahy, Jack Dwan, Ben Hennessy; Jamie Woods, Stevie Flanagan, Audie Lohan.

Subs used: Eddie O’Gorman for P O’Dwyer (18, inj); Stephen Quinlan for Flanagan (58); Cian Ryan for Jamie Lee Dwan (58); Sean Ryan for Lohan (59); Jake Galvin for Woods (60).

Kiladangan: Eoin Meagher; Stephen Mulvihill, Shane Seymour, Diarmuid Fogarty; Darragh Ryan, Matthew Cleary, Ronan Ducie; Johnny McGrath, Johnny Horan; Darren Moran, DJ McGrath, James O’Meara; Eoghan Sharkey, Shane Gleeson, Jos Slattery.

Subs used: Ruairi Gleeson for Slattery (HT); Bill Cleary for J O’Meara (HT); Paul Seymour for J McGrath (47); Jack McGrath for Seymour (49); Gavin McGrath for D Ryan (55).

Referee: Michael Kennedy (Newcastle)