Louth hurling champions coast to another facile Leinster victory

Leinster Junior Club Hurling Championship Quarter Final

St Fechins 1-18 Kilcoole (Wicklow)

For a second tie in a row, the hurlers of St Fechins showcased their firepower, this time accounting for the Wicklow champions, St Patricks of Kilcoole, who outside of a brief purple patch early in the second half rarely looked like threatening a comeback.

The Termonfeckin outfit once again looked potent up front, with Paddy Lynch finishing the tie with an impressive final tally of 11 points. Overall, just five of their 1-18 total came from placed balls.

Yet with nine wides and other efforts coming up short, Niall McNamee’s troops will still have plenty to work on ahead of trip to face Horeswood from Wexford in Enniscorthy in two weeks’ time.

The win was even more impressive when you see they were without some of their big names. Sean Kerrisk was only fit enough to make an appearance off the bench, while the duo of Paul Mathews and Danny Morgan were also missing. All three are county stars.

But if they were to miss out on a Leinster tie, this was the one, as the men from the Garden County rarely looked skillful enough to cause St Fechins many problems. The home side’s pace, ability in the air and dominance in midfield seeing them dictate the flow of the game and win in a facile fashion.

The county champions came out of the blocks fast, Sean Hodgins getting them on the board with a close range free inside the opening minute.

Soon after they should’ve rattled the net when a free from Lynch dropped short and bounced into the path of Barry Devlin. However, Luke Frawley reacted quickly to deny him with a fine save.

Frawley was called into action a lot in this contest, either to make saves or to win possession from any shots that dropped short. He was a rare positive for the Wicklow side, on a day most of his team will be trying to forget.

They did manage to get on the scoresheet on five minutes, a good team move involving Vinny Quigley and Charlie Frawley helping to tee up Eoin Keddy. His effort at the goals was saved by Ruari Morrissey, but a foul in the lead up saw Kilcoole get on the board via a Keddy free.

This use of the advantage was prevalent throughout the contest, as referee Ciaran Flynn from Meath was willing to let the play develop before bringing it back for frees if necessary. This allowed the game to flow freely and at pace, which probably suited the hosts more than the visitors.

Seaghan Conneely was the St Fechins go to target man from their own puck outs, with most of their attacks started in this half via the county man grabbing a Morrissey puck out right out of the sky. With Ross Berkery always there to offload and run at Kilcoole, the duo caused the opposition havoc.

Coupled with the likes of Peter Fortune and Jamie McDonnell sweeping up possession and winning Kilcoole restarts, the men from Termonfeckin essentially had their opponents camped in their own half, working off scraps.

To their credit they were working hard off the ball, with Ronan Keddy dropping back from the forward line and into the midfield area to help the defence work the ball up the field. With 12 minutes gone on the clock they only trailed by one, 0-2 to 0-1.

However, St Fechins soon got properly going, bagging five in a row to build up a sizable six-point cushion. Lynch notched four in this purple patch. Coupled with a nice score from Bob Grace they now led by 0-8 to 0-2.

The visitors’ chances took another dent on 19 minutes, as Charlie Frawley was awarded a red card for pulling at the helmet of a Fechins player. Down to 14 men and behind by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break, the Wicklow champions had a mountain to climb to get back into this tie.

Three more Fechins scores followed shortly after the change of ends, as efforts from Conneely (2) and Donal Ryan increased the gap to eight points as Kilcoole’s struggles retaining possession from their own puck outs continued.

However, a rapid fire 1-1 on 37 minutes gave their traveling supporters something to cheer about, with Ronan Keddy front and centre to this mini purple patch.

A poor pass saw them regain the ball, with Luke Evans the man who eventually rattled the net via a sublime shot from distance. Soon after Ronan Keddy won the ball and pointed nicely to reduce the Fechins lead to four. Still big, but a closable gap.

But once more the Louth Champions proved their mettle, 1-5 without reply shooting them into an unassailable lead. Paddy Lynch was again the scorer in chief, his pinpoint accuracy seeing him bag all five points. Meanwhile their deserved three pointer came via Michael Byrne.

Following another turnover from a puck out, the substitute did well to get onto a long-range diagonal ball and duly blasted the sliotar home nicely on 50 minutes to help them on their way to well-earned 12-point victory.

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St Fechins: Ruari Morrissey; Conor Higgins, Oisin Byrne, Cormac McAuley; Jamie McDonnell (0-1), Peter Fortune, Conor Mathews; David Stephenson, Donal Ryan (0-1); Seaghan Conneeely (0-3), Ross Berkery, Paddy Lynch (0-11, 0-5 frees); Sean Hodgins (0-1), Bob Grace (0-1), Barry Devlin. Suns: Ryan Walsh for Higgins (HT), Michael Byrne (1-0) for Devlin (HT), Sean Kerrisk for Grace (44), Brian O’Connell for Hodgins (50), Colin Griffin for Berkery (59).

Kilcoole: Luke Frawley; Shane Collins, Gary Cody, Paddy O’Brien; Jamie Grehan, Ciaran Doyle, Fionn Mansfield; Ronan Keddy; Chris Carroll, Ryan Heffernan; Charlie Frawley, James Frawley, Vinny Quigley; Luke Evans (1-1), Ronan Keddy (0-1), Eoin Keddy (0-4 frees). Subs: Shane Evans for Carroll (temporary 30), Evans for Carroll (HT), Shane Evans for Mansfield (38), Oisin Taggert for Quigley (55).

Referee: Ciaran Flynn (Meath)