Kilkenny IHL- Back-to-back wins secures championship safety for ever-improving Dunnamaggin

Impressive wins in their final two league games saw Dunnamaggin move out of the relegation zone and into the first round of the intermediate hurling championship.

The winners hosted their final league game against neighbours Carrickshock last Sunday afternoon at their impressive facilities and were the better side for much of the game. Dunnamaggin had first advantage of the breeze and quickly asserted control of the game with Denis Walsh landing two points in the opening three minutes.

Walsh was the stand out player in this game scoring 0-13 of his side’s 0-18 tally. Nine of those points came from frees an indication of the lack of discipline from Carrickshock with the visitors guilty of some careless tackling.

Eoghan O’Neill pointed a free for Carrickshock to get them off the mark on six minutes, but his side struggled for scores with Jake O’Dwyer and Kieran Conway the only other Carrickshock players to trouble the scoreboard operator during the game.

Denis Walsh was superb from placed balls with Eoghan Kearney and Andy Hickey also finding the range.

Dunnamaggin led 0-6 to 0-2 at the end of the first quarter with defences generally on top. A brace of pointed frees from Eoghan O’Neill narrowed the margin to two points early in the second quarter.

Carrickshock failed to score for the next ten minutes with their opponents landing five points without reply to increase the margin to seven points. Dunnamaggin used the wind to good effect shooting from well out the field.

When Jake O’Dwyer and Eoghan O’Neill (free) narrowed the margin to five points in first half injury time, Carrickshock would have been happy enough as they had wind advantage after the break. But another fine point from play from Denis Walsh saw his side lead 0-12 to 0-6 at the interval.

25 seconds into the new half Kieran Conway halved the margin with a Carrickshock goal as he followed a neat cross-field delivery, but they could not build on that momentum.

Much of the second half was a shoot-out between Denis Walsh (D) and Eoghan O’Neill (C ) with Jake O’Dwyer (C ) and sub Joe Fitzpatrick (D) also getting on the scoreboard.

Dunnamaggin’s dependence on Denis Walsh was very obvious last Sunday. He was superb and while Andy Hickey along with Darren and Joe Fitzpatrick also landed points, the winners know that their key attacker will need a lot more assistance in their upcoming championship game.

Aside from Walsh, Dunnamaggin’s full back line of Shaun O’Keeffe, Harry and Ian Walsh were also outstanding.

Carrickshock’s defeat sees them end up in relegation territory. They can play better, but last Sunday the side lacked energy and work rate. They need to find both of those key ingredients next weekend in their relegation semi-final.

Teams and Scorers

Dunnamaggin - Denis Walsh (0-13, 0-9 frees, 0-1 ’65); Andy Hickey (0-2); Eoghan Kearney, Darren Fitzpatrick and Joe Fitzpatrick (0-1, each).

Carrickshock - Eoghan O’Neill (0-7, frees), Jake O’Dwyer (0-3), Kieran Conway (1-0).

Dunnamaggin - James Logue; Shaun O’Keeffe, Harry Walsh, Ian Walsh; Eoghan Kearney, Victor Costello, Darragh O’Keeffe; RayCody, Paul Kirwan; Andy Hickey, Denis Walsh, Darren Fitzpatrick; John Fitzpatrick, Peter Kenneally, Ruaidhri Holden.

Sub: Joe Fitzpatrick.

Carrickshock - Jamie Power; Edward Dunphy, Niall Tennyson, Padraig Lennon; James Grace, John Power, Sean Moore; Michael Murphy, Aaron Roche; Michael Rice, Eoghan O’Neill, Kevin Farrell; Eoin Crowley, Jake O’Dwyer, Kieran Conway.

Subs: Edward Dwyer, Barry Lennon.

Ref – Stephen Delaney (Graigue Ballycallan).