Weekend Allianz Hurling League Division 2 Fixtures/Results

ROINN 2A

Kildare 2-20 Kerry 0-21

Offaly 1-19 Carlow 1-12

Down 0-23 Derry 1-20

Next weekend's Leinster derby at Glenisk O'Connor Park will be a straight shoot-out for a place in the Division 2A final of this year's Allianz League, after the two protagonist's in that game tomorrow week, Kildare and Offaly, both picked up good home wins yesterday afternoon.

After a nip and tuck first quarter, with Gavin Dooley’s brace of points from play for the Kingdom lighting up a game where the freetaking of Pádraig Boyle, Shane Conway and James Burke was the main source of points, Kildare took over for the remainder of the first half, rattling off seven scores unanswered to take an 0-14 to 0-6 interval lead.

Kerry were much improved after half-time and dragged the lead back to four points, before they were rocked by a goal from Brian Byrne. Again Kerry picked themselves up, with Conway leading their attacking charge, but a second goal from Gerry Keegan on the hour mark left them with too much to do, and Kildare were able to ease to a fourth consecutive win in this year’s league, and their 14th in a row in all competitions, stretching back through this year’s Kehoe Cup and last year’s Christy Ring Cup.

Offaly never trailed against Carlow but still didn't really shake off the visitors to Tullamore until second half stoppage time, as red cards for Diarmuid Byrne and Jack Kavanagh, as well as some poor freetaking and a missed first half goal chance, doomed Carlow to a third defeat of the year, effectively killing their promotion chances.

Tom Mullally's side had the wind in the first half but went in trailing by 0-11 to 0-6, as Eoghan Cahill's accuracy for Offaly contrasted sharply with some of the poor misses from Marty Kavanagh.

Only Cahill and Cillian Kiely were a consistent threat up front for Offaly, whose star performers included Ciarán Burke, Ben Conneely and Ross Ravenhill - all playing in single digit jerseys. Carlow continued to marshal them well in the early stages of the second half, before Byrne's second yellow card after 48 minutes left them short-handed.

Kiely, who picked up his first yellow card alongside Byrne in the 13th minute, also got a second yellow with 13 minutes to play, but in poor conditions and with scoring difficult, Carlow never got closer than three points adrift, and they fell away again after Jack Kavanagh became the third man to be sent off late on.

With space opening up, David Nally ran through 50 metres of ground and nabbed an injury time goal for Offaly, before a scrappy effort from Jack McCullagh at the far end cancelled that out with the next attack.

Meanwhile, both Down and Derry each picked up their first positive result of the year, drawing 0-23 to 1-20 at Ballycran. The result means that Derry will need to pick up a result next weekend against Carlow to have any chance of avoiding relegation.

Cormac O’Doherty got them out to a great start this afternoon when he found the net after just five minutes from a penalty, though Down responded well with points from Paul Sheehan, Tim Prenter and Pearse Óg McCrickard to establish a comfortable five-point lead.

That was still the lead at half-time, with Derry heavily dependent on O’Doherty for scores, while Marc Fisher and Liam Savage added their names to the scoresheet for Down.

Derry were much improved in the second half however, coming with a strong surge. Corey O’Reilly and John Mullan each brought their tally to three points from play, and with the Down defence tiring, Derry earned enough frees for O’Doherty to bring his tally to 1-10 and edge his team into the lead going into stoppage time.

In the fifth minute of additional time, Down’s frantic chasing of the game yielded a result as they forced an illegal handpass, and Pearse Óg McCrickard nailed the free to level the contest. 

ROINN 2B

Meath 2-17 Tyrone 0-8

London 5-16 Sligo 2-20

Wicklow 2-24 Donegal 0-11

Meath's fourth win of this year's campaign means that they can relax next weekend, knowing that their place in the Division 2B decider is assured after their win in Omagh, while a heavy defeat for Tyrone is a huge setback for the Red Hand County.

A closely-contested first ten minutes, after which time the sides were level at 0-3 apiece, gave no indication of the one-sided contest that was to follow at O’Neill’s Healy Park.

Meath ran riot for the remainder of the opening half to build up on 0-15 to 0-5 interval lead, and a goal from Éamon Óg Ó Donnchadha early in the second half only consolidated their position. The contest died a death with the result assured at that stage, and most fans were already on their way home by the time Paddy Branwell added Meath’s second goal.

Goals were key for London as they hit the Sligo net five times, a result which also ensures that these two counties will meet again in a relegation decider in a fortnight, regardless of results elsewhere.

Sligo had the better of the early exhanges, but Ronan Crowley’s penalty goal ensured that London were always there or thereabouts, and they kicked on with goals from David Barron and Jack Goulding, either side of a red card for Sligo’s Eoin Comerford. Conor Hanniffy found the net for Sligo to reduce the gap to five points before half time, and they continued to battle well in the second half, even after shipping another goal to Goulding.

Tomás Cawley found the net to give them faint hope going into the last five minutes, but Eogh McHugh became the last man to put his name on the goalscorer’s list, clinching London’s win.

Wicklow made short work of Donegal at Letterkenny in this afternoon’s only game, with second half goals from Sam O’Dowd and Gavin Weir crowning a comprehensive victory.

With Danny Cullen and Declan Coulter among a long list of absentees from the Donegal side, the home team at O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny needed everything to go well, and instead they missed a great chance when Conor McNAlly saved Ritchie Ryan’s penalty.

Christy Moorehouse and Eoin McCormack led the scoring charge for Wicklow, who led by 0-14 to 0-5 at half time, and they cruised through the second half to win by 19 points.