Dillon on the double as senior hurlers overcome Carlow

LEINTER SHC ROUND-ROBIN ROUND 3

DUBLIN 2-22 CARLOW 1-13

Two goals from Eamon Dillon saw Dublin secure victory in Sunday afternoon's Leinster SHC clash at Netwatch Cullen Park.

The Dubs will face Galway in two weeks' time in Parnell Park (Saturday, June 15) with their hopes of progress in this year's Championship still alive.

Eamonn Dillon's goals both came in the opening half to help his side to a 2-10 to 0-8 half-time lead in front of an attendance of about 3,500.

The Nh Fionnbarra man struck for his first in the 12th minute following a long delivery into the danger area from Sean Moran to give his side a 1-3 to 0-2 lead.

Six minutes later the Dubs almost got this second goal but Paul Ryan's effort rattled the woodwork after being picked out by Eamonn Dillon.

The second gal arrived in the 29th minute when Ryan and Dillon combined for the Fionnbarra man to rattle the net to push Dublin 2-7 to 0-5 clear.

Carlow's Marty Kavanagh cut the deficit with a pointed free before Tom Connollyand Paul Ryan (free) moved Dublin further in front.

However, Dublin were reduced to 14 men when Shane Barrett was red-carded by referee John Keenan (Wicklow) following his tackle on Jack Kavanagh.

Points from Marty Kavanagh (free) and Sean Whelan made it 2-9 to 0-8 before Paul Ryan converted his third free of the half, to bring his tally to 0-6.

Dublin restarted the second half well with points from Paul Ryan, after a foul on Conal Keaney, a stylish score from Dillon and then Keaney himself was on target following good work by Cian Hendricken and Chris Crummey for Mattie Kenny's men to lead 2-13 to 0-8.

A Chris Nolan free briefly halted Dublin's momentum but Dublin firing well again soon after with scores from Paul Ryan, a superb Eoghan O'Donnell score and two from Keaney, bringing his tally to 0-4 from play, making it 2-17 to 0-9.

Then the hosts enjoyed their best spell of the contest with James Doyle grabbing a goal in the 44th minute before Chris Nolan tagged on two points.

Dublin resettled with sub Fergal Whitely adding two points following his introduction, Dillon bringing his scoring to 2-2 and Ronan Hayes hitting his second point of this encounter.

SCORERS - Dublin: P Ryan 0-9 (0-5f), E Dillon 2-2, C Keaney 0-4, R Hayes, F Whitely 0-2 each, C Boland, E O'Donnell, T Connolly 0-1 each. Carlow: M Kavanagh (0-2f), C Nolan (0-2f) 0-4 each, J Doyle 1-0, S Whelan 0-2, E Byrne, JM Nolan, J Kavanagh 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: A Nolan; P Smyth, E O’Donnell, C Hendricken; C Crummey, S Moran, S Barrett; T Connolly, S Treacy; C Boland, D Sutcliffe, E Dillon; C Keaney, R Hayes, P Ryan. Subs: D O’Connell for Connolly (33), J Malone for Boland (49), J Madden for Hendricken (49), J Hetherton for Keaney (54), F Whitely for Ryan (60),

CARLOW: B Treacy; A Corcoran, P Doyle, M Doyle; K McDonald, D English, R Coady; J Kavanagh, S Whelan; JM Nolan, E Byrne, S Murphy; J Doyle, C Nolan, M Kavanagh. Subs: E Nolan for R Coady (inj, 24), G Coady for Corcoran (35), R Smithers for Murphy (44), T Joyce for M Kavanagh (51), D Murphy for J Doyle (65).

REF: J Keenan (Wicklow).

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