Are Thomastown Kilkenny’s sleeping giant when it comes to matters hurling? Did you know that the World Cup is already up and running?
Here’s some of the stories making the news headlines for Scoreline and KCLR on Monday 21 November.
Thomastown are county champions
Thomastown are celebrating a first-ever JJ Kavanagh & Sons Kilkenny Under 21A hurling title following a 5-18 to 6-12 defeat of Mooncoin.
In a fairly eventful game, extra time was needed to separate the sides with Thomastown taking full advantage of conditions at UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon to take the win. You can listen back to that game in full here.
After the game, Thomastown manager Ken Walsh told Scoreline that it means a lot to everyone associated with the club, especially considering the disappointment of losing out on a run at the intermediate county championship again this year. Catch up with Ken Walsh and some of the team on the latest edition of the Scoreline Extra podcast, out now.
Leinster hurling and camogie fixtures set
The fixture details have been confirmed for this weekend’s Leinster club hurling championships semi-finals.
Blacks and Whites will go head-to-head with Commercials of Dublin at 1.30pm on Saturday in UPMC Nowlan Park as both sides look to make next month’s junior final. On Sunday, all roads lead to Croke Park for a double-header for the station as last year’s Leinster senior hurling champions Ballyhale Shamrocks face Tom Mullally’s Naas at 1.15pm before Carlow’s St Mullins go up against Kilmacud Crokes at 3.15pm.
Wedged in the middle with a 2pm throw-in at Clane is the Leinster camogie club intermediate championship final between Kilkenny’s James Stephens and Carlow’s Myshall.
Both sides had a single-point win over St Brigids of Laois and Na Fianna of Meath respectively at the weekend and speaking to Scoreline, James Stephen’s Niamh Deely said that the key to the result was a combination of a strong defensive showing and improved work ethic in the second half. Hear Niamh’s interview in this week’s edition of Scoreline Extra here.
Josh’s Kilkenny Connection
Ireland and Leinster back row Josh van der Flier (pr: Fleer) has been named the World Rugby Player of the Year for 2022. He beat off competition from team-mate Johnny Sexton to win the award for the first time. Sexton and Keith Wood are the only previous Irish winners of the award. There’s a Kilkenny link there too – his grandfather George Strong won a Provincial Towns Cup with Kilkenny back in 1959, the club presented him with a jersey over the summer to recognise the association.
Kilkenny Women were also big winners in the Leinster League yesterday, they posted a shutout 52-0 win over South East Lions to give them six wins from six and sitting top of the league heading into December.
Sailing championships come to a close
Rio Olympian, Carlow’s Finn Lynch (representing National Yacht Club) was unable to find his more regular form for the lighter winds in the three race day on Sunday at the European Championships in France that saw him score a 16th-39th-32nd which dropped him to 32nd place overall.
For the remaining two races later today, Lynch will be aiming to finish on a high with individual best results though both the podium and most likely the top ten are beyond his reach.
“There is a lot of luck involved in these conditions but I need to be better so that I can afford to have bad luck”, said Lynch of the event with the change in the weather.
World Cup underway
While Ireland isn’t at the World Cup, Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny says keeping a clean sheet was a positive from last night’s win over Malta. Callum Robinson’s goal was the difference, with Ireland winning 1-0 though it’s France next in March as qualification for the 2024 European Championships get underway.
The World Cup is underway though, hosts Qatar slumping to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Ecuador in Sunday evening’s opening game. Despite a bright moment in the closing minutes, the reigning Asian champions look like they could be under pressure with Senegal and Netherlands still to come.
Harry Maguire looks poised to start for England in their World Cup opener against Iran later. Reports overnight suggest the Manchester United defender will feature in their Group B encounter, which kicks off at 1pm in Qatar. In the same group, Wales and the USA meet from 7pm.
The day’s other game between the Netherlands and Senegal kicks off at 4pm.
