By John Harrington

It was a busy weekend of senior club hurling championship action. We go around the counties for a comprehensive round-up of all the winners and losers.

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Sixmilebridge 0-17 Éire Óg Ennis 0-12

Cratloe 3-15 Kilmaley 2-11

Wolfe Tones 4-19 Clarecastle 0-16

Ballyea 0-16 Crusheen 0-14

Inagh-Kilnamona 2-17 Clooney-Quin 0-14

Clonlara 0-19 Newmarket 1-14

Feakle 0-21 Whitegate 0-16

O’Callaghan’s Mills 2-13 Broadford 0-17

Reigning champions Silxmilebridge got the defence of their crown off to a positive start on Saturday when defeating Éire Óg Ennis by five points.

They had to overcome significant adversity on the way, losing Alan Mulready to a red-card in the 26th minute.

Leading by 0-8 to 0-5 at the break, they kept Ennis at bay comfortably enough in the second-half thanks in no small part to the accurate free-taking of Alex Morey.

Last year’s beaten finalists, Cratloe, got the better of Kilmaley in a very exciting contest.

A second-half penalty save by Cratloe’s Gearoid Ryan and a late Shane Neville goal proved to be the decisive moments of the match.

Wolfe Tones produced arguably the most impressive performance of the round as they proved much too good for Clarecastle.

County-star, Aaron Shanagher, was the man of the hour, finishing with a personal tally of 2-9.

2017 All-Ireland club finalists, Ballyea, edged a hard-fought contest with Crusheen thanks largely to the brilliance of Tony Kelly who scored seven points from play.

Another county-man, David Fitzgerald, caught the eye for Inagh-Kilnamona in their victory over 2017 finalists, Clooney-Quin, who struggled to sparkle without the absent Peter Duggan.

Micheál O’Loughlin made the difference for Clonlara in their narrow victory over Newmarket, popping up with two late points that gave the East-Clare side the victory.

A strong first-half showing was the key to O’Callaghan Mills’ victory over Broadford, while Feakle enjoyed a comfortable enough win over Whitegate.

TIPPERARY

Borris-Ileigh 0-21 Toomevara 1-18

Upperchurch-Drombane 0-21 Burgess 0-16

Thurles Sarsfields 1-19 Kilruane McDonaghs 1-13

Kiladangan 1-20 JK Brackens 3-14

Drom-Inch 2-18 Roscrea 2-16

Loughmore Castleiney 1-23 Moycarkey-Borris 0-17

Clonoulty-Rossmore 2-18 Éire Óg Annacarty 0-16

Nenagh Éire Óg 1-19 Holycross 0-11

Reigning Tipperary and Munster champions, Borris-Ileigh, had to settle for a draw in their first match of the championship yesterday against Toomevara which was the fairest result on the day. You can read a full report of that match HERE.

In the same group, Upperchurch-Drombane finished with a flourish to see off the tenacious challenge of Burgess.

There was little between the teams for much of the contest but, inspired by centre-back Gavin Ryan who scored five points, The ‘Church came strong down the final straight to score a string of scores that made the game safe.

Thurles Sarsfields produced one of the most impressive performances of the first-round to defeat 2019 North Champions Kilruane McDonaghs.

Kilruane led by four points at the second-half water-break, but Sarsfields throttled up the turbo in the final quarter, hitting 1-8 with just 0-1 in reply. Their win was also notable for the return of Billy McCarthy who hit two points on his comeback from a very serious knee injury.

Last year’s beaten county finalists, Kiladangan, snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat against Templemore’s JK Brackens courtesy of a converted free by Bryan McLoughney six minutes into injury-time.

Kiladangan took an early six-point lead, but two goals before the break by Brackens reduced the deficit to just two. A third Brackens goal by Jordan Moloney followd by a Shane Scully point edged the town team ahead near the end, but McLoughney held his nerve when that late free came his way.

A late charge by Drom-Inch saw them come from behind to beat Roscrea, but they had a little bit of luck on their side when Seamus Callanan’s mis-hit free went all the way to the back of the Roscrea net.

Loughmore-Castleiney proved too strong for a youthful Moycarkey-Borris team, as a four-point haul by Conor McGrath helped them to a six-point victory.

2018 county champions, Clonoulty-Rossmore, enjoyed a comfortable eight-point victory over fellow West-Tipp club Éire Óg Annacarthy, while a Jake Morris inspired Nenagh proved too strong for Holycross-Ballycahill.

WATERFORD

Ballygunner 2-22 Tallow 0-9

Mount Sion 1-19 Clonea 1-13

De La Salle 2-22 Ballysaggart 1-12

Fourmilewater 0-21 Dungarvan 1-17

Ballygunner’s bid for a seventh Waterford SHC title in a row got off to a promising start as they thumped Tallow by 19 points.

Dessie Hutchinson was the main man for the champions, hitting a personal tally of 2-5.

14-man Mount Sion survived a late scare to eventually see off the stubborn challenge of Clonea.

Mount Sion led by 0-12 to 0-4 at half-time, but then had defender Owen Whelan red-carded.

Clonea made the most of their numerical advantage and drew level four minutes from the end when Ciaran Power goaled. But Mount Sion summoned a late surge that saw them hit Clonea for 1-3.

Good news for Waterford hurling supporters was the performance of Austin Gleeson who scored eight points, including two trade-mark sidelines, and looked back to his best.

Ballysaggart’s first even senior hurling championship match ended in defeat to De La Salle.

Stephen Bennett scored a spectacular goal for the 2019 Intermediate champions early on, but De La Salle dominated thereafter, with Jack Fagan especially impressive as he hit a personal tally of 1-13.

Another county star, Jamie Barron, was the main man for Fourmilewater as they edged to a one-point victory over Dungarvan, hitting six points from play.

LIMERICK

Kilmallock 2-16 Na Piarsaigh 1-17

Patrickswell 3-23 Adare 0-26

Monaleen 1-15 South Liberties 0-12

Ballybrown 4-18 Blackrock 2-14

Kilmallock produced the result of the round in the Limerick SHC when they defeated Na Piarsaigh on Friday.

Graeme Mulcahy was the star of the show, scoring 1-4, with the goal coming at a crucial stage in the second-half and giving his team the winning momentum.

Reigning champions Patrickswell had an entertaining shoot-out with Adare, coming from seven points down early in the second-half to win by six.

A strong second-half performance by Monaleen saw them defeat South Liberties by six points. After a slow start, Monaleen were buoyed by a converted Mark O’Dwyer penalty, and then took charge of the game in the second-half.

Andrew Cliffe was the main man for Ballybrown, scoring 2-11, as they proved much too strong for newly promoted Blackrock.

WEXFORD

St. Anne’s 2-17 Glynn-Barntown 1-19

Naomh Eanna 2-11 Enniscorthy Rapparees 0-16

St. Martin’s 0-23 Cloughbawn 0-15

Ferns St. Aidan’s 0-21 Fethard 1-15

Reigning champions St. Martin’s are through to the Wexford SHC Quarter-finals courtesy of an eight-point victory over Cloughbawn.

Once again Rory and Jack O’Connor led the charge for John Meyler managed team, who made it two wins from two in the group stage.

St. Anne’s are also through to the quarter-finals after a thrilling one-point victory over Glynn-Barntown.

A Gary Moore goal helped Glynn-Barntown into a 1-12 to 1-9 lead at half-time and they still had their noses in front for much of the second-half.

But St. Anne’s came with a late charge and snatched a hard-fought victory when Jonathan Fogarty popped up with an injury-time winner.

County star Conor McDonald kept Naomh Eanna’s quarter-final hopes alive as he converted a late penalty that dumped Enniscorthy Rapparees out of the Championship.

The Rapps trailed by 1-8 to 0-6 at half-time but dominated the second-half and looked like pulling off a much-needed victory until McDonald struck late on for Naomh Eanna.

Ferns St. Aidan’s kept their championship hopes alive courtesy of a late flurry of points that saw them come from behind to beat Fethard.

CARLOW

St. Mullins 2-17 Naomh Eoin 1-11

Ballinkillen 1-19 Bagenalstown Gaels 0-14

Reigning champions St. Mullins got the defence of their title off to a convincing start as they overpowered Naomh Eoin in the second-half of their Carlow SHC clash.

The teams were level at 1-8 apiece at half-time, but St. Mullins moved up through the gears in the second-half and landed the decisive score of the match when Oisin Ryan struck for a goal.

Ballinkillen enjoyed a comfortable victory over 2019 Intermediate champions Bagenalstown Gaels. An Owen Roberts goal after 10 minutes gave them early momentum and they never looked back from there.

GALWAY

Sarsfields 4-22 Portumna 0-18

St Thomas’ 2-23 Castlegar 3-18

Turloughmore 1-18 Liam Mellows 1-16

Tommy Larkings 1-16 Loughrea 0-15

Oranmore-Maree 1-17 0-19 Clarinbridge

Cappataggle 4-16 Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry 2-14

Reigning Galway champions St. Thomas’ staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Castlegar in the first round of the Galway SHC. You can read a full report of that match HERE.

Tommy Larkins held off a late charge from Loughrea. You can read a full report of that match HERE.

A powerful second-half surge by Sarsfields saw them blow away 13-man Portumna.

The game was still level by the second-half water-break but then Portumna suffered the double body-blow of losing Joe and Jack Canning to red-cards in the space of a couple of minutes.

Sarsfields, who were inspired by the impressive Joseph Cooney, finished with a flourish that saw them score two goals in the dying minutes.

Conor Walsh was the main man for Turloughmore, hitting 11 points, as they saw off Liam Mellows. Tadhg Haran hit 1-10 for Mellows, but that wasn’t enough as a Barry Callanan goal proved decisive for the winners.

Two late points by Conor Hanniffy gave Oranmore-Maree a narrow one-point victory over Calrinbridge with Niall Burke’s goal also proving decisive.

Niall Collins was Cappataggle’s hat-trick hero as they proved too strong for Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry.