ROUND-UP: Go Ahead Senior 1 Hurling Championship Round 2

Image courtesy Des Pearson

The two groups of the Go-Ahead Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship are beginning to take some shape following a quartet of matches that took place across Tuesday and Wednesday night. 

In Group 1, Lucan Sarsfields registered their second successive victory when digging deep to hold off a spirited St Brigid’s by 1-24 to 1-22 at O’Toole Park on Tuesday evening.

Having defeated holders Kilmacud Crokes in their opening fixture, Lucan entered the contest with great confidence and that was enhanced as Paul Crummey netted as early as the 3^rd minute.

A brace of excellent stops from Alan Nolan and seven points from Paul Winters saw St Brigid’s stay in the hunt but two late points by Ben Coffey pushed Sarsfields 1-15 to 0-11 clear by the interval.

The Blanchardstown side resumed in a determined fashion to trim their arrears to three points by the 42^nd minute thanks to two points apiece from Cian O’Sullivan, Johnny McGuirk and Mark Kavanagh while Lucan responded through vital points by Seán Harkness, Coffey and Charlie Keher.

An O’Sullivan goal in the 51^st minute left the bare minimum between the sides but Ciaran Dowling and Luke Walsh countered for Lucan as they prevailed by two points by the final whistle.

Across the city in Parnell Park, Ballyboden St Enda’s also picked up their second win on the bounce when defeating St Vincent’s by 1-23 to 3-13.

It was a far from straightforward win for David Curtin’s side, as they trailed by eight points by the end of the first quarter, with John Hetherton plundering two goals for the Marino outfit while Sean Lambe added two superb solo scores to enhance his side’s position.

However, Boden gradually got to grips with the Vinnies attack as the dead-ball prowess of Paul Ryan edged St Enda’s ever closer and they overtook their opponents in first-half injury time as Ryan fired past Dara Perry from Niall McMorrow’s pass.

St Enda’s continued to control matters after the break with Conor Dooley, Luke McDwyer, Niall Ryan and McMorrow extending their lead and while Lambe offered St Vincent’s some hope with a 50^th minute goal, a trio of Paul Ryan points were enough to see Boden home with a degree of comfort.

On Wednesday night, St Oliver Plunkett/Eoghan Ruadh impressed from the outset as they withstood some late pressure to defeat Faughs by 2-20 to 1-17 in their Group 2 encounter at O’Toole Park.

Plunkett’s enjoyed a 1-12 to 0-6 interval lead with their goal from Fionn Boland in the 12^th minute opening up a five-point lead and they added to their buffer thanks to first-half scores by Irinel Popa, Ger Ryan, Neil Clerkin and Ben McSweeney.

A penalty from Ryan within two minutes of the restart looked to have settled the issue but James O’Brien refused to accept Faughs’ perceived fate as he tagged on four points before netting in the 54^th minute to leave three points between the teams.

However, a trio of frees by Ryan and a sideline cut from Cian Boland helped steady the Plunkett’s ship as they held on with six points to spare.

In Parnell Park, Cuala were another team to claim four points from their opening two fixtures as they dominated the first-half en route to a 0-23 to 2-10 success against Whitehall Colmcille.

The Dalkey side enjoyed a 0-16 to 0-06 lead by the interval with the lively Colm Cronin popping over three points from play while Jake Malone, Conall O’Toole and Cillian Sheanon added two points apiece from play.

Whitehall improved after the break, buoyed by two goals from Eoghan O’Donnell but a trio of second-half points by Jamie Conroy and O’Toole’s prowess from placed balls saw Cuala home comfortably.