Round-up: Fulfil Leinster U-20 HC
Aaron Niland of Galway. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Fulfil Leinster U-20 hurling championship, Phase 2, Round 1
Group 1
Galway 4-13 Wexford 1-8
Kilkenny 1-16 Kildare 0-10
Group 2
Dublin 3-15 Meath 0-10
Offaly 1-20 Laois 2-16
By Paul Keane
Senior star Aaron Niland fired a stunning 3-8 as Galway got their Fulfil Leinster U-20 HC campaign off to a terrific start.
Niland netted twice in the opening 16 minutes as Galway built up a big early lead despite playing into the teeth of a gale in Portlaoise.
They slipped back during the middle third of the game, failing to score at all between the 19th and 41st minutes as Wexford cut the gap to just two points.
But the Model County, who blasted 14 wides overall, relied heavily on free-taker Sean O'Brien who struck 1-6 of their tally from placed balls.
And when Galway retuned their radar in the closing 20 minutes, they surged clear of Wexford again for a 14-point win.
Niland was on the frees for Galway but all three of his goals came from open play and his third arrived in the 46th minute.
Substitute Harry Holmes from Ballygar registered Galway's fourth goal late on while Brian Callanan and Darragh Counihan impressed too.
The chief downside for Galway was the apparent shoulder injury that forced county senior Seán Murphy off late in the first half. They were already without Loughrea star Cullen Killeen due to injury.
Holders Kilkenny beat Kildare by nine points in the other Group 1 game and also needed to finish strongly.
Henry Shefflin's young Cats were 1-7 to 0-4 up at half time and stretched the lead to eight points early in the second half.
But six Kildare points from Tom Power helped reduce the deficit to just three points at 1-10 to 0-10.
Kilkenny came with a strong kick late on, reeling off scores from senior star David Barcoe, Ollie O'Donovan, Jake Mullen and Patrick Lacey, who'd earlier scored their goal.
Meanwhile, Offaly had to come from behind late on in Portlaoise to secure their Round 1 win in Group 2.
Level with just three minutes to go, Laois then surged three clear with a Conor Headen goal.
But Offaly responded within 60 seconds with their own goal, from Patrick Lyons, to tie it up again at 1-17 to 2-14.
The sides then split six points evenly between eachother to leave it still level four minutes into stoppage time.
Mark Mulrooney then pounced for the winning score, his fifth of the game.
Callum Graham's two early goals at Parnell Park put Dublin on the road to a 14-point win over Meath.
The Royal County beat Antrim and Carlow to make it to Tier 1 and trailed by just those Graham goals at half time when Dublin led 2-6 to 0-6.
But Darragh Kilduff's goal after the restart for Dublin left them 10 points clear and they pulled clear with points from Aron Gargan, Harry Curley, Conor Dillon, Micheál Tierney and Tommy Cullen.
