This year’s national football league is up and running, the race for promotion in the Leinster League is heating up and we’ve been back on the road with more live games – just some of the headlines featuring as part of the morning news run for Scoreline and KCLR on the last Monday of the month.
Destination Antrim
It’s the start of a busy week for inter-county hurlers and fans alike as the Allianz Hurling League gets underway this coming weekend. Kilkenny are in training this week to take on Antrim in Corrigan Park while Carlow are getting set to meet Kildare for the second time this year. Both games will be live on KCLR this Saturday afternoon.
Carlow’s footballers got off to a shaky start against Wicklow over the weekend with the Allianz Football League up and running. Playing most of the second half with 14 men, a late Shane O’Neill point did enough to salvage a draw of Niall Carew’s side who will travel to the SETU Sports Campus at Carriganore this Saturday to take on Waterford.
Speaking to KCLR after the game, Carew suggested the swell of support in the stands was a contributing factor towards Carlow taking something from the game. You can hear his full post-match interview on the latest Scoreline Extra podcast.
Kilkenny’s ladies were back in action yesterday in Division 4 of the Ladies National League but fell to a heavy defeat at the hands of Leitrim, that gaming finishing 7-26 to 0-05. Last week’s return to the league was about establishing the building blocks for the county’s adult team but it shows the level that you need to be operating at on the big stage. The buildup to the game wasn’t without incident though with one Kilkenny player lucky to make it to Leitrim.
One of the best games of the weekend was hosted in Kilkenny with Piltown staging the division 1 clash between Cork and Waterford, that one ending 2-09 apiece after a last-gasp equaliser from Cork.
Meanwhile, Carlow ladies have named their captain and vice captains ahead of their league start next weekend with Bennekerry-Tinryland’s Ruth Bermingham set to wear the armband again this year with Rachel Sawyer and Róisín Baily named as vice-captains.
In schools news, St. Kierans College are through to another Leinster colleges final. They beat Coláiste Eoin on Saturday to seal a place in this year’s decider where they’ll meet Offaly School. Their second-year footballers take on Salesian College Celbridge at midday in this year’s Leinster second-year football B final.
Presentation secondary school have a big day ahead of them today on the soccer front. They are competing in the Leinster u20 A final against Roscrea in Killeshin, Carlow at 12.30. The Kilkenny school will be hoping for more celebrations after centre-back Freya DeMange re-signed with Wexford FC for her third season in a row this weekend.
Promotion Push
There were big wins for Tullow and Carlow in the Leinster League over the weekend. With both sides at home, Tullow kept up the pace for promotion with a 28-19 win over Athy yesterday, a side they’ll meet in the opening round of the Provincial Towns Cup next month. League leaders Wicklow played to a 21-21 draw against Cill Dara meaning there’s just a point separating the sides.
Carlow were 19-12 winners at home to Longford, leaving them in fourth but closing the gap to Athy to two points with just three games left to play in the league.
Kilkenny managed a draw against Gorey at the weekend that won’t lift them from the foot of Division 1A but does put help their chances of surviving automatic relegation. They won’t play again until the 18th of February.
KCLR McCalmont Cup Returns
It was a big weekend for the KCLR McCalmont Cup in Kilkenny. Highview are through to the next round at the expense of Stoneyford while Newpark, Deen Celtic and Bridge United have all advanced. Ormonde Villa needed penalties to get past Freshford. The next round of games goes ahead this coming Sunday.
In the Leinster Junior Cup, Evergreen’s David Grincell was in fine form as he chipped in with a brace en route to a 5-1 defeat of Clonmullon while a dramatic winner also helped Carlow’s New Oak Boys advance to the next round of the competition with Cian Cleary sealing a spot in the last 16 for the defending Premier Division champions.
The magic of the FA Cup struck again at the weekend, sending Arsenal and Liverpool packing with Liverpool beaten for the second time in three weeks by Brighton. Andy Robertson told reporters after the game they “need to start winning games which is easy to say but harder to fix”, suggesting that there’s a lack of confidence among the squad. Leeds, on the other hand, are through alongside Man United, Man City and Stoke while John Egan’s stoppage-time strike rescued Sheffield United against non-league Wrexham. It ended 3-3 at the Racecourse Ground.
Get more local sport stories across the day on KCLR with updates on the hour and be sure to join Martin Quilty for Monday’s Full Time just after the news at 6pm this evening to recap the weekend’s action.
