A strong finish saw St. Lachtain's of Kilkenny defeat Castletown Liam Mellows of Wexford in the Leinster Junior Hurling Final.
AIB Leinster Club Junior Hurling Final
St Lachtain’s (Kilkenny) 3-8 Castletown Liam Mellows (Wexford) 2-10
By Robert Cribbin at SETU Carlow
St Lachtain’s are the 14th Kilkenny club to win the Leinster Junior Hurling club title after they claimed a narrow one point victory over Wexford’s Castletown Liam Mellows in SETU Carlow, earlier this afternoon.
Cian Dawson’s 52nd minute goal eventually gave the Freshford outfit the edge as they hung on to win in a chaotic closing few minutes that saw Castletown throw everything at them but when Eoin Cullen saw a late free drop short, the Kilkenny side had done enough to hold on.
The all action nature of the contest was there for all to see in the opening minutes when James Maher and Jack Higgins shared goals inside the opening two minutes.
Shane Donnelly then got St Lachtain’s second goal in the 5th minute and Steven Farrell’s men looked in control of the final at that point.
Castletown responded in perfect fashion however and by the 23rd minute the teams were back on level terms.
Eoin Cullen knocked over a number of frees while Jack Higgins and Ross Cody also scored from play during that spell of dominance for the Wexford team.
Points from James Maher, Paddy Killeen and Cathal O’Leary kept St Lachtain’s ticking away but after squandering further goal opportunities, they found themselves behind at the half-time break when Eoin Cullen knocked over two frees at the end of the half to leave Castletown ahead on a 1-7 to 2-3 scoreline.
Cathal O’Leary and Liam Hickey added on early second half points for Freshford but, after Eoin Cullen maintained the Castletown advantage, it was the Liam Mellows men that looked well on their way to victory when Robbie Brooks kicked in a goal in the 41st minute.
Castletown led by four at that stage but they’d only score once more before the end as St Lachtain’s upped their attacking quality with vital points from Liam Hickey and John Fitzpatrick.
The vital goal from Cian Dawson then helped them retake the lead and although it got nervy going down the stretch, St Lachtain’s did enough to secure the Leinster title after a thrilling 60 minutes of action.
Scorers for St Lachtain’s: James Maher, Shane Donnelly (1-1 each); Cian Dawson (1-0); Liam Hickey (0-3); Cathal O’Leary (0-2, 0-1 free); Paddy Killeen, John Fitzpatrick (0-1 each)
Scorers for Castletown Liam Mellows: Eoin Cullen (0-7, 0-6 frees); Jack Higgins (1-1); Robbie Brooks (1-0); Ross Cody (0-2)
St Lachtain's: Darren Brennan; Shane Dawson, Criomthann Bergin, Simon Rafter; Alexander Rafter, Brian Kennedy, Cathal Hickey; Brendan Quinn, Mark Donnelly; Darragh Maher, Paddy Killeen, Cathal O'Leary; James Maher, Liam Hickey, Shane Donnelly.
Subs: Cian Dawson for D.Maher (37 mins); John Fitzpatrick for Killeen (44 mins); Padraig Donnelly for J.Maher (46 mins); Alan Rafter for O’Leary (56 mins).
Castletown Liam Mellows: Gavin Stamp; Dylan Goland, Danny Gardiner, Frank Roche; Robbie Brooks, Colin Kennedy, Richard Farrell; Rory Heffernan, Ross Cody; Jack Higgins, Joe Gardiner, Aaron Condren; Conor Carty, Eoin Cullen, Doran Daly O'Toole.
Subs: Sean Og Stafford for Gardiner (36 mins); Andy Merrigan for Condren (58 mins); Risteard Kinsella for Higgins (63 mins).
Referee: Brian Kearney (Kildare)
