Senior hurlers suffer defeat to Kilkenny

Sun, 20th March 2016

KILKENNY 0-23 DUBLIN 1-14

Kilkenny saw off the Dublin challenge in Sunday’s NHL Division 1A clash at Nowlan Park in front of a crowd of 8,871.

With both sides already qualified for the quarter-finals (Dublin v Limerick (Parnell Park, April 2nd @ 7pm); Kilkenny v Offaly) this tie lacked a real ‘championship’ bite with the Cats always held the upperhand and led 0-7 to 0-1 inside 19 mintues.

By the break they were 0-14 to 1-3 clear with Fionntán Mac Gib, who started instead of David O’Callaghan, grabbing the Dublin goal to temporarily arrest Kilkenny’s momentum.

However, with TJ Reid to the fore from frees and open play Kilkenny reeled off six unanswered points to establish an eight-point interval advantage.

Dublin rallied in the second half with Eamonn Dillon and Mac Gib causing problems for the Kilkenny rearguard.

Late on Dillon did have a goal chance but was denied by Richie Reid in the 70th minute.

SCORERS - Kilkenny: TJ Reid 0-11 (0-6f), W Walsh, R Hogan 0-3 each, P Walsh, L Ryan 0-2 each, J Power, K Joyce (0-1f) 0-1 each. Dublin: D Treacy 0-5 (0-4f), F Mac Gib 1-1, E Dillon 0-3, N McMorrow 0-2, M Schutte, L Rushe, J McCaffrey 0-1 each.

KILKENNY: R Reid; J Tyrrell, J Holden, B Kennedy; P Walsh, K Joyce, C Buckley; L Ryan, D Cody; W Walsh, TJ Reid, J Maher; JJ Farrell, J Power; R Hogan.Subs: M Malone for Maher (61), S Prendergast for Tyrrell (61), K Kelly for Malone (72).

DUBLIN: G Maguire; E O'Donnell, C O'Callaghan, O Gough; C Crummey, L Rushe, S Barrett; D O'Connell, G Whelan; C Cronin, N McMorrow, D Treacy; F Mac Gib, E Dillon, M Schutte. Subs: J McCaffrey for Whelan (28), S McGrath for Cronin (46), S Treacy for O'Connell (61)

REF: J Keenan (Wicklow).

Division 1 Quarter Finals

(A) Kilkenny v Offaly

(B) Waterford v Wexford

(D) Tipperary v Clare