Hurlers warm to Wicklow test at bitter Darver
Wicklow B Louth 3-14 3-11
THE Louth Senior hurlers ran out of time in their bid to rescue something out of their Kehoe Cup clash with Wicklow ‘B’ at Darver on Sunday afternoon.
Despite putting in a very commendable shift, a lack of ruthless finishing in front of goal on numerous occasions left them trailing by three points at the death.
In truth, Wicklow’s half-time lead of 2-7 to 1-6 would have been much higher but for Stephen Hackett pulling off two superb reflex saves from George O’Brien.
Conversely, had Louth possessed a finisher in the style of O’Brien things could have been radically different as the home side worked themselves into plenty of positions of potential, only for the last ball to go astray.
Louth had numerous quality performers. Ronan Geoghegan proved well capable from frees, his 1-6 a decent return for his efforts. Shane Callan battled bravely against George O’Brien until injury curtailed his appearance and Caoimhe Seery put in a serious effort, while Niall Devlin looked a real handful after being named in the starting fifteen in place of Paddy McCormack.
In the biting cold of Darver, both teams went at it hell for leather in the opening 35.
Geoghegan opened the scoring after 60 seconds when he lobbed over a sweet score from a free, before a fine Gerry Connors effort drew the sides level, benefiting from a loose Louth groundstroke.
A foul on Connors allowed ‘Bosco’ fire Wicklow ahead before Geoghegan replied with a sweet white flag of his own with six gone.
A dainty Gerry Connors ball down the line was collected by James Cranley, and with Stephen Kettle hot on his heels a neat sidestep gave him a few feet of room to stroke over a confident score - 0-3 to 0-2 for the visitors.
The potential to cause havoc on Hackett’s goal by George O’Brien, Paul O’Brien and Cranley was realised after 12 minutes when a tasty Gerry Connors ball to the unmarked Cranley saw the corner-forward rampage down on the Louth goal and flick a neat handpass out to George O’Brien. With plenty to do against the formidable Mike Lyons, O’Brien walloped home to the roof of Hackett’s net for the game’s opening goal.
Louth recovered well after the concession of the goal, with points from Geoghegan (free) and Gerard Smith from play, and they were well served by Hackett who pulled off the first of his excellent saves from O’Brien after 18 minutes.
A 65 from Jonathan ‘Bosco’ O’Neill was replied to by Devlin and a George O’Brien peach was answered by a wicked Shane Maguire effort and we had a decent game on our hands at 1-5 to 0-6 with 25 on the clock.
Cranley pushed Wicklow three clear moments later before Geoghegan made an absolute nuisance of himself and horsed the ball over the line to level matters at 1-6 apiece with 31 minutes gone.
However, Wicklow always looked threatening when O’Brien got the ball and he fired home low and hard past Hackett after 34 to return the visitors to the lead, and a point from Gerry Connors left the half-time tally at 2-7 to 1-6.
On the restart, Paul O’Brien opened the scoring for Wicklow, before Paul Matthews replied. Good work from Luke Evans allowed ‘ Bosco’ a chance to point, but John Martin hit back for Louth moments before Devlin found the back of Conor McNally’s net with a sweet groundstroke to leave Louth just a single point behind.
But ‘Bosco’ took control for the next few minutes and all of a sudden Louth were six down after the Glenealy legend bagged 1-2.
Michael Ryan reduced the deficit with an opportunist’s goal after a Geoghegan free dropped short and was batted down in the Wicklow square, where Ryan pounced to make it 3-11 to 3-8 in favour of the Wicklow men.
Louth got it back to a two-point difference and were given an extra boost, with Wicklow’s Michael Connors picking up a red card after an incident with Connor Deane.
That was as close as the Reds got, though, as the Garden County added three further points, to Louth’s two - those from Mark Molloy and Geoghegan.
Philip O’Brien’s charges, who lost to Longford in the first round, complete their Kehoe Cup programme with a home game against DCU St Patrick’s next Sunday in Darver at 2pm.
WICKLOW: Conor McNally; Darragh Maloney, Billy Cuddihy, John Connors; Shane Doyle, Peter Keane, Michael Connors; Jack Doyle, Jonathan O’Neill snr 1-6 (0-3f, 0-1 65); Luke Evans 0-1, Gerry Connors 0-3, Chris Kavanagh; Paul O’Brien 0-1, George O’Brien 2-1, James Cranley 0-2. Subs: Drew Brennan for C Kavanagh (36min); Jonathan O’Neill jnr for D Maloney (50).
LOUTH: Stephen Hackett; Stephen Kettle, Ronan Byrne, Mike Lyons; Andrew McCrave, Shane Callan, Caoimhe Seery; Mark Molloy 0-1, Paul Matthews 0-1; Ronan Geoghegan 1-5 (0-5f), Niall Devlin 1-1, Gerard Smyth 0-1; Shane Maguire 0-1, John Martin 0-1, John Crosby. Subs: Michael Ryan 1-0 for Maguire (29min), Conor Deane for Crosby (40), Conor Matthews for Callan (45), Liam Molloy for Deane (55), Shane Callan for Martin (64min).
REFEREE: Chris Dwyer (Offaly)