Hosts London much too strong for Yeats men

SLIGO hurlers were put to the sword emphatically by a very strong London side in the second round of fixtures in the Christy Ring Cup group stage Saturday afternoon at McGovern Park, Ruislip.

Whilst the two sides went in level in what was a very competitive first half, the Exiles blew Sligo away by scoring 3-7 without reply in the first quarter after the restart to consign the Yeats county to a second consecutive defeat losing on a scoreline of 4-26 to 0-12.

London raced to an early three-point lead with scores from Goulding and Crowley before Sligo responded with a Crowley free and a Hanniffy score from play.

Sligo briefly took the lead scoring three on the bounce to be 0-5 to 0-4 up on the quarter-hour mark with Cawley, Munnelly, and McHugh all raising white flags from play.

The sides then exchanged scores before the interval to close the half 0-9 apiece.

London came out after the break a different animal with full forward Jack Goulding a constant menace. The Kerry man would end the day with a tally of 2-13.

Goulding rifled the ball to the net after beating his man immediately after the restart followed up with a second goal from Glynn to put London seven points ahead within four minutes of the restart.

A Sligo score from play in response was met with a further six points without reply from London including another well-taken goal from Goulding to all but put the game to bed within ten minutes of the restart.

By the midway point in the half, London led 3-18 to 0-12 with Gerard O’Kelly Lynch hitting Sligo’s scores, which would prove to be their last of the day.

Sligo were simply unable to cope with London’s St Gabriel’s pairing of Goulding and Glynn who would score a combined 4-17 by the final whistle. The pair went on to hit a further 1-8 without reply in the final quarter to end Sligo’s rout with a conclusive 26-point winning margin.

Sligo will now face a Tyrone side at home next weekend who were comprehensively beaten by Derry on a score line of 2-26 to 0-13.

With both sides joint bottom of the table, next weekend’s game could be huge in the outcome of this season’s standings.

London meanwhile will take on Wicklow in a bid to maintain their perfect start to the campaign.

Sligo: Luke Comerford, Kevin O’Kennedy, Darragh Cawley (0-1), Niall Kilcullen, Rory McHugh, Conor Hannify (0-1), Finnian Cawley, Fionn Connolly, Joe McHugh (0-1), Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch (0-4), Michael Munnelly (0-1), Thomas Cawley, Conor Griffin, Eddie O’Donoghue.

London: Tommy Wallace, Padraig Muldoon, Conor Byrne, Niall Geoghegan, Tom Millerick (0-2), Sean O’Meara, Cathal O’Carroll, Adam Cunney, Robbie Murphy (0-1), Owen Shiel (0-1), Sean Glynn (2-4), Kevin Reid (0-1) , Dylan Dawson, Jack Goulding (2-13, 0-8f ), Ronan Crowley (0-4).