There’s plenty to digest on this wet Monday morning after a busy weekend of sporting action around Kilkenny and Carlow.
The local club hurling championship scene is almost at an end, the FAI Junior Cup continues for local soccer clubs, there were some big wins in Leinster for Mullinavat and Clonmore, and the Premier League saw some big results in Sunday’s games.
With all that said, here are some of the stories making the headlines on KCLR and Scoreline.ie this morning. If you have news of your own to share at any stage of the week, email [email protected].
Top Cats
We’re going to be seeing JJ Delaney on the sidelines for Kilkenny’s U20 hurlers next year as it was confirmed on Friday night that the Fenians’ clubman will be joining new manager Mark Dowling’s backroom team. That’s set to be ratified at the county board meeting this week where he’ll be joined by Liam Egan of John Lockes, Clara’s Robert Shortall and Mullinavat’s Tom Aylward on the S&C front.
Dicksboro earned bragging rights over city rivals James Stephens and an Under 19 A county title yesterday with a 2-16 to 1-13 in UPMC Nowlan Park. The sides have met regularly this season between the senior and underage ranks. The ‘Boro took a five-point lead into the break with goals from Cillian Hackett and Timmy Clifford proving vital as Stephen Manogue kept James Stephens ticking along with eight points of his own.
Kilmacow are also through to the final of this year’s Under 21 C championship thanks to a 2-20 to 13-point win over Carrickshock. They’ll play the winners of St. Lachtains and Mullinavat who are due to meet this coming weekend. Meanwhile, Graiguenamanagh are into the Under 21 D hurling final where they’ll face either Conahy Shamrocks or St. Patricks while Graigue-Ballycallan will contest the Under 21 B final having seen off Rower Inistioge over the weekend to set up a showdown with Lisdowney this coming Sunday.
This weekend marks the of the Leinster hurling championship quarter-final stages for Kilkenny and Carlow’s senior, intermediate and junior sides with Ballyhale, St. Mullins, Danesfort and Blacks and Whites all looking forward to game time on Saturday and Sunday.
Mullinavat, Clonmore advance as Palatine bow out
This past weekend proved fruitful again for both Mullinavat and Clonmore as their intermediate and junior Leinster football championship victories continue.
Mullinavat posted a 3-9 to 0-15 win over Shandonagh of Westmeath on Saturday while Clonmore were 3-5 to 0-08 winners over Straffan of Kildare. Both will have home semi-finals on the 19th of this month with Mullinavat set to take on Fethard St. Mogues of Wexford while Clonmore take on Castletown of Meath.
On the senior front, Palatine’s Leinster senior football championship journey has come to an end at the hands of three-in-a-row Laois champions Portarlington.
The sides met in Netwatch Cullen Park yesterday and with Pal trailing 11-points to 5 at the break, the game would go on to finish 3-19 to 0-9 in favour of Portarlington, the win there securing them a semi-final trip to Croke Park in two weeks time. We’ll hear later this morning from Palatine manager Pado Flynn who suggested that the lack of experience at that level of competition was a contributing factor to the result.
In camogie, while Mount Leinster Rangers bowed out of the Leinster junior championships at the weekend, there was cause for celebration for Naomh Bríd with 10 of the club’s minors winning out at the Carlow Camogie Minor Blitz in Fenagh yesterday morning. They beat St. Mullins and Burren Rangers on the way to the final, beating Muinebheag 3-6 to 4-1 to take the cup.
This coming weekend also sees Thomastown head to Dublin to take on St. Vincent’s in the Leinster senior club championship semi-finals, that game set for a 1.30pm throw-in.
There was plenty of handball action for local competitors over the weekend with matches in Dungarvan and Sligo; among the winners was Kilfane’s Kyle Jordan who added another All-Ireland title to his account
On the rugby front, Tullow and Carlow picked up big wins over Dundalk and Longford respectively in the Leinster League yesterday, Carlow looking full value for a 50-17 win in their game. Kilkenny Women’s game against St. Mary’s at the weekend was cancelled so as training resumes as normal this week, they can look forward to a clash with MU Barnhall J1s this coming weekend.
FAI Junior Cup drama
There was plenty of drama in the FAI Junior Cup yesterday on the Kells Road with Evergreen hosting Crettyard; One-all at half time, Mikey Drennan put the hosts ahead on 69 minutes before Crettyard hit an equaliser 60-seconds from time. Three minutes into stoppage time, a headed corner from Lee Delaney sent Evergreen into the next round.
Elsewhere Bridge United needed penalties to knock out Fort Rangers, New Oak Boys lost to Gorey Rangers while Vale Wanders continued their charge by beating Curracloe.
In the Premier League, the Unai Emery era has begun at Aston Villa with an immediate impact as they finished 3-1 winners against a lacklustre Man United. Arsenal are still on top of the table following a 1-0 win away to Chelsea yesterday while Liverpool took a vital 2-1 win away to Spurs. We’ll know this morning where Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City land in the Champions League knockouts with the last 16 draw set to take place at 11am.
And if you missed any of the weekend’s sporting conversations, you can find them in the latest edition of the Scoreline Extra podcast, out now or available to listen to below.
