Young Irelands 2-19
Thomastown 1-20
It looked unlikely when they trailed by six points as the game reached its final stages, but Young Irelands have backed up their victory over St Martin’s in the second round with an eye-catching result against Thomastown on a warm afternoon in Dr Tierney Park on Saturday.
An early Jack Holden goal alongside a plethora of frees from the ever-reliant Robbie Donnelly moved last year’s runner’s up into a 1-08 to 0-04 lead after a dominant 20 minutes.
Despite getting a goal of their own to reduce the deficit, Young Irelands continued to control Thomastown’s classy forward line as Donnelly, Holden, John Donnelly and Luke Connellan were all on target to leave the scoreboard reading 1-12 to 1-07 at the interval.
Both sides exchanged scores early in the second half as the crowd became more engaged with the spectacle that was now on display.
It looked as though Thomastown would ease to victory as the game reached its conclusion but a second Young Irelands goal completely swung the encounter in their favour.
They notched on the points without reply as Thomastown could not answer what the men in red and white had to throw at them.
The result sees both teams sit on four points after the first three games.
