After round three of the St Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling League O Loughlin Gaels find themselves in second place in group b
Having lost out by just three points to city rivals Dicksboro the Gaels were looking to bounce back and get a performance against Mullinavat in Hugginstown on Saturday afternoon last. Mullinavat themselves were also looking to bounce back after a hammering against Tullaroan.
Stephen Murphy was certainly the busiest of the goalies especially in the first half as Mullinavat had made plenty of goal chances in the first half but failed to convert them and there was just one point in it at the interval. After the break the unfortunate Huw Lawlor dropped a Mullinavat free into his own net. Instead of dropping the head Lawlor and O Loughlin’s upped their performance and work-rate despite loosing Mikey Butler at half time. They were rewarded in the 50th minute when Owen Wall scored a spectacular goal which got the Gaels moving forward and they ended up winning the game by five points.
After the game Player of the Match Mark Bergin spoke to KCLR after his sides great win, he said: “Absolutely Adrian, particularly after last Friday night against the Boro, we left the Kells Road extremely disappointed. We targeted the first three league games before the two week break and we knew they were going to be three serious games, look we came out with four out of six points coming down to Hugginstown to play Mullinavat every year that we play them its a huge battle, the conditions didn’t help both teams. It was a huge physical battle and one we’re absolutely thrilled to get the two points”
“I’m on the road a long time alright, these younger lads give you a bit of life again, you mentioned Eoin, David Fogarty, Jordan Molloy, Conor Kelly, Eoin O’Shea, these lads have a lot of underage experience and titles but as you know its a huge step up to senior, they’ve been with us the last three or four years, hopefully they’re coming of age and they can drive us on”
“Every single game in Kilkenny is huge, I know its a cliché there’s nothing easy, there’s no two points guaranteed, we did just look at the three matches the break then and now we have Clara and Danesfort, big battles again but we’re where we want to be, but we have an awful lot to improve on the Boro match definitely showed us that, but we showed a bit of character today, we went four points down with maybe twenty minutes to go and we showed a bit of heart, last year Mullinavat got a run on us and we weren’t able to pull it back. this year was different so we’re absolutely thrilled, but look its still August it’s the league its a bit of character building for us”
“Myself and Murphy like you said at the start are two of the elder statesmen and we’re great friends, we just enjoy getting out there and getting on the ball it was a day for just the basics Adrian and that’s what’s important and we’re absolutely thrilled to get over the line”