Clane win Kildare Senior B Hurling Championship in absolute cracker

Clane 1-18

Leixlip 1-17

Clane have been crowned Kildare Senior B Hurling Champions following their final win over Leixlip in Cedral St Conleth's Park.

Leixlip started the better of the teams in terms of possession, but failed to score in their first four attempts. There was no score for five minutes in this game but once it came this fixture sprung into life.

Darragh Melville and Jack Travers sent Leixlip two clear with the former having to work hard for his scores thanks to a diligent man-marking job by Tom Malone.

Clane hit two in a row of their own with a Paddy McKenna free and a smart score from Hugh Muldoon after he received a sideline ball.

Ben Travers got in on the point-scoring act just a single play before Leixlip first hit the net. Stephen Ryan slipped Cillian Harrington through one on one and, after Mark Doyle’s sharp emergence from his goal, Harrington sidestepped the Clane ‘keeper and hit the net.

Leixlip moved six clear at 1-5 to 0-2 just after the 15 minute mark. It was hard to believe at that stage that just six minutes later they would trail after a flurry of Clane scores.

Clane hit six of the next seven scores and Paddy McKenna was first up with a free that sailed between the posts and into the car park. The Kildare ‘keeper had under-hit his last free and was not going to make that error again.

Hugh Muldoon grabbed his second and Caolan Smith his first inside the same minute as Clane drew back to within three.

Sean O’Connor got the sole Leixlip point in that sequence, which was quickly followed by Clane midfielder Simon Healy’s first point of the afternoon.

A world class fetch under huge pressure and subsequent score to match it from Caolan Smith closed the gap to just two in the 20th minute.

Clane then fired themselves ahead through Paddy McKenna when the Kildare star received the ball in the forward line and stood up his man. McKenna then burst past his opposite number and smashed the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle to give Clane their first lead in this game at 1-7 to 1-6.

Darragh Melville sharply put Leixlip back ahead with his first from play and his third free in the space of a couple of minutes.

Clane made their equaliser as easy as possible with just two passes involved from the goalkeeper’s puck out before Paddy McKenna’s third point.

Melville again edged Leixlip ahead with Sean Shanahan restoring parity this time, but Leixlip did carry a lead of 1-10 to 1-9 half-time after Jack Travers pointed from out wide in the last play of the first half.

Travers was first on the scoreboard after the break too with another point, which was soon followed by Darragh Melville’s sixth as Leixlip held a 1-12 to 1-9 lead after 35 minutes.

With two further scores from play from Harrington and Melvile, Leixlip held a five-point lead with 20 minutes remaining.

Clane were once again let back in however and again put together an exceptional run of scores and, like they had in the first, hit six of the next seven scores to draw level in the 53rd minute. Three Paddy McKenna frees, two Shane Henry points from play, and one from Sean Shanahan paved the road back to level pegging.

Level at 1-16 each on the hour mark, Clane edged ahead when full-back, and Man of the Match, Dan Colbert latched onto a breaking ball in midfield and fired over a superb point that looked like it could have been a winner.

Leixlip drew level in the fourth of the five minutes of added time through Darragh Melville from free on the edge of the arc and extra-time looked on the cards.

The drama wasn’t done there and Clane did have a winner in them. It came when Dan Colbert got on the ball again and sent a long, searching ball towards Caolan Smith.

Smith, much like he had in the first half, fetched the ball from the sky and flicked it over the bar with the last action of this enthralling final. 

The late winner meant Clane were crowned  Kildare Senior B Hurling Champions.

Clane, Paddy McKenna 1-7 (0-6 frees), Caolan Smith 0-3, Shane Henry 0-2, Hugh Muldoon 0-2, Sean Shanahan 0-2, Simon Healy 0-1, Dan Colbert 0-1.

Leixlip, Darragh Melville 0-10 (0-8 frees), Cillian Harrington 1-1, Jack Travers 0-3, Ben Travers 0-1, Cathal Derivan 0-1, Sean O'Connor 0-1.

CLANE: Mark Doyle; Aidan Mooney, Dan Colbert, Micheál Cahalan; Tom Malone, Sean Shanahan, Aaron Connolly; Hugh Muldoon, Simon Healy; Sean Malone, Cormac Vizzard, Caolan Smith; Paddy McKenna, Cian Shanahan, Daniel Malone. Subs: Shane Henry for Simon Healy (39 minutes), Seán Christianseen for Daniel Malone (47 minutes), Eamon Little for  Micheál Cahalan (55 minutes).

LEIXLIP: Keith O'Callaghan; Cillian Nicholson, Ryan Doyle, Dara Mooney; Conor Higgins, Conor Burke, Jack McGonigle; Cathal Derivan, James Canning; Ben Travers, Jack Travers, Sean O'Connor; Cillian Harrington, Stephen Ryan, Darragh Melville. Subs: Cormac Keegan for Stephen Ryan (43 minutes), Alan Murphy for James Canning (57 minutes).

Referee: Fergus Devereux

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