Hurlers do the needful in Arklow

NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 3

Kerry 1-20 Wicklow 1-12

FINTAN O’Connor’s men arrived into the Arklow venue seeking their fourth win on-the-trot, while Wicklow were looking to build on their narrow victory away to Mayo the previous weekend in horrendous weather conditions.

A quick look at the form book and at the bookies’ pricing ahead of this game and a Kerry win by a margin of at least seven points seemed to be on the cards and in the end it was by a margin of eight that the Kerry side would emerge victorious and deservedly so it must be said.

Key to the victory was the performance in the first half by the visitors as they wrenched open a 0-14 to 0-6 gulf between the sides, courtesy of the sharpshooting of Shane Conway and a tight defence where James O’Connor and Mikey Boyle stood out.

Kerry enjoyed the wind at their backs for the opening 35 and would make one change to their listed 15 with the formidable Jason Diggins starting instead of Tomás O’Connor.

It was a bright start for Fintan O’Connor’s men when Conway opened the scoring after a foul on Michael O’Leary by Wicklow captain John Henderson and this opener was followed by a fine effort from Michael Slattery after a sweet ball from Brandon Barrett as Kerry looked to play a competent and flowing brand of hurling on the heavy sod.

It was nip and tuck for a time, but at the start of the second quarter Kerry put the boot down pushing on through points from Michael Slattery after a stunning ball from Shane Conway, four further points from the centre half forward (one ‘65, two frees), a single from Jordan Conway and the last score of the half from midfielder Dan Goggin with Wicklow answering through Andy O’Brien (two frees) and a Danny Staunton peach to leave the half-time tally reading 0-14 to 0-6 in favour of the men from the Kingdom.

It’s fair to say that things were looking bleak for the Garden County, but there were some factors that were stopping it looking like a complete lost cause and they were: A: They would have the wind in the second half. B; Kerry full-back James O’Connor was on a yellow card.

And C: A fierce shower of rain and hail at half-time meant that any hope of Kerry unleashing their fast-flowing hurling on the now drenched sod was very unlikely meaning that Wicklow could pepper their goals with high balls down on the lethal Andy O’Brien.

Alas, from Wicklow’s point of view, the wind died down in the second half, James O’Connor was replaced by the very capable Bryan Murphy and whatever ball that was rained down on the Kerry square, aside from the first one which Bray’s Pádraig Doyle got his boot to, to send it to the back of Martin Stackpoole’s net was somehow dealt with by the Kerry defence when majors looked very, very likely.

Doyle’s goal and Andy O’Brien’s ‘65 immediately after Warren Kavanagh’s goal-bound shot was stopped by alert Stackpoole reduced the arrears to four points and suddenly the game looked eminently winnable from a Wicklow point of view given how Andy O’Brien was showing.

Kerry’s response was excellent. Wicklow came attacking again but Eric Leen got out to bust up the foray and the momentum was lost momentarily. A high challenge on Jordan Conway gave Shane Conway the chance to point and he did so.

Conway would play a much deeper role in the second half and if Kerry were to have major concerns going forward it would be that the centre half-forward was virtually anonymous for much of the second half here.

Enda Donohoe dropped over an absolute bomb to make it 0-15 to 1-8 and then came the huge turning point of the game. Shane Conway found Jason Diggins with a peach of a pass and he set off on a trundling run through the Wicklow defence where astoundingly nobody laid a hand on him and he fired home past Conor McNally for a gut puncturing score after 44 minutes of this game.

In fairness, Wicklow reacted well; Andy O’Brien slicing the posts after a foul on Eoin McCormack followed by a converted ‘65 from the Pat’s man after Martin Stackpoole inexplicably dropped a long ball from Gary Byrne and we were back to a five-point game, but that was as close as Wicklow would get.

Andy O’Brien tried to flick another long ball to the net, but Stackpoole was alert and two Conway frees pushed it out to a seven-point game as Wicklow welcomed back Michael Boland to the fray in place of George O’Connor after a long lay-off through injury with 50 on the clock. Kerry held Wicklow scoreless from the 47th minute to the 67th minute.

Kerry remain unbeaten. They welcome Antrim to Austin Stack Park on March 1 at 12.30pm for what should be a cracker of a game.

WICKLOW: Conor McNally; Martin O’Brien, Bryan Kearney, Peter Keane; Gary Byrne, Billy Cuddihy, John Henderson; Eamonn Kearns, Warren Kavanagh; Danny Staunton (0-1), Enda Donohoe (0-2, 1f), Eoin McCormack; Pádraig Doyle (1-0), Andy O’Brien (0-9, 5f, 2 ‘65), George O’Brien Subs: Michael Boland for G O’Brien, 50, Luke Evans for E McCormack, 59, Ciaran Breen for B Cuddihy, 63, Gary Hughes for P Doyle, 69

KERRY: Martin Stackpoole; Eric Leen, James O’Connor, Seán Weir; Evan Murphy, Mikey Boyle, Jason Diggins (1-0); Dan Goggin (0-1), Michael Leane; Michael O’Leary, Shane Conway (0-11, 9f, 1 ‘65), Brandon Barrett (0-3); Michael Slattery (0-2), Jordan Conway (0-1), Colum Harty Subs: Bryan Murphy for J O’Connor, half-time, Fionan Mackessy for D Goggin, 52, Nathan O’Driscoll for M Slattery, 59, Conor O’Keeffe for E Murphy, 63, Fionan O’Sullivan (0-1) for M Leane, 65 REFEREE: Chris Mooney (Dublin)