Under 19 Hurling- Composed Kilkenny claim decisive league win away to Wexford

The Kilkenny under-19s came through a tough battle before claiming a three-point success against Wexford in the final group game of the Development League on Saturday morning.

It was the Cats’ second win on the trot and although the gap was minimal come the final whistle, it was a game that Kilkenny were in control of for long spells.

The Noresiders led from pillar to post with Patrick Lacey and Bill McDermott the main assets in attack for the winners as they opened up a five point half-time lead. While Wexford did get to within two points at one stage of the second period, Matthew Ruth’s team always had it in their armoury to pull away.

Kilkenny raced out of the blocks early on and within six minutes they had already registered four points on the scoreboard.

Two points from Patrick Lacey via play and a free as well as efforts by Sean Deely and Bill McDermott had the Cats in control before Wexford belatedly got off the mark with a Jamie Doyle score in the 11th minute.

That was only brief respite for the home team as Kilkenny quickly added on three more points in succession with all of them coming from play with McDermott’s second of the half arriving before both Stephen Kinsella and John Fitzpatrick got their names on the scoresheet.

Wexford then replied with a Darragh Browne free before Jamie Doyle doubled his tally, but their hopes took a significant blow when Robbie Quinn went off with a serious looking injury.

Down the other end, McDermott was on target once again but he was unlucky not to find the net when his batted close range shot went over the bar after Sam Hayes drove forward at pace from defence.

Sean Denton replied to leave it a double scores contest with Kilkenny 0-8 to 0-4 ahead, but they improved that margin even further before the change of ends with Patrick Lacey knocking over his second point of the half minutes after James Stephens player Zac Scanlon broke through a couple of Wexford challenges, but his shot towards goal was well saved by Charlie Ellard.

Kilkenny continued to dictate the pace upon the resumption with Robbie Doherty getting his first score of the game via a lovely shortened grip effort and Lacey converting another free from distance.

Wexford sub Pauric Doyle kept the Model County plugging away but Patrick Lacey’s influence began to grow with the full-forward knocking over two excellent points from play.

Darragh Browne and Adam O’Connell also pointed during this spell for Wexford but they still trailed 0-13 to 0-7 at the midway mark of the half and there looked to be only one winner.

From here though, Thomas Gleeson’s outfit began to get their second wind and four points on the bounce between the 47th and 51st minutes had them very much back in the game.

Jamie Doyle and Adam O’Connell scored between a pair of Darragh Browne frees and while Patrick Lacey replied with a point of his own, there was still only a puck of the ball between the teams going down the stretch.

Both Browne and Lacey then shared further points before the defining moment of the game where Louis Raggett lost control of the ball in the Kilkenny defence and Bobby Codd gained control of the sliotar but Conor O’Sullivan was alert as he made a great save at the expense of the Wexford attacker.

A goal there and it was anybody’s game, but two more Lacey scores helped Kilkenny keep their opponents at arm’s length.

Teams and Scorers

Kilkenny - Patrick Lacey (0-10, 0-6 frees); Bill McDermott (0-3); Sean Deely, Stephen Kinsella, Robbie Doherty, John Fitzpatrick (0-1 each)

Wexford - Darragh Browne (0-6, frees); Jamie Doyle (0-3); Adam O’Connell Byrne (0-2); Sean Denton, Pauric Doyle, Emmet Kennedy Power (0-1 each)

Kilkenny - Conor O’Sullivan (Erin’s Own); Dara Behan (James Stephens), Conor Brophy (Erin’s Own), Bill O’Shea (Dicksboro); Sam Hayes (Danesfort), David Barcoe (Clara), Sean Deely (James Stephens); Donnchadh Hennessy (Dicksboro), Anthony Clifford (Dicksboro); Bill McDermott (James Stephens), John Fitzpatrick (Shamrocks Ballyhale), Zac Scanlon (James Stephens); Stephen Kinsella Graignamanagh), Patrick Lacey (Dicksboro), Robbie Doherty (Mooncoin).

Subs: Louis Raggett (Dicksboro) for Kinsella, 39 mins; Eoghan Cahill (Graigue Ballycallan) for Scanlon, 51 mins; Jim Conlon (Young Irelands) for Fitzpatrick, 55 mins; Regan Downey (Fenians) for Hennessy, 62 mins.

Wexford - Charlie Ellard; Ian Reilly, Jack Young, Ben Harpur; Paddy Keavey, Vincent Higgins, Aaron Ennis; Emmet Kennedy Power, Rian Ormonde; Sean Denton, Bobby Codd, Robbie Quinn; Peter Wickham, Darragh Browne, Jamie Doyle.

Subs: Pauric Doyle for Quinn, 8 mins; Tadhg Doyle for Harpur, 27 mins; Adam O’Connell for Ormonde, h-t; Joshua Roche for Higgins, 35 mins.

Referee - Dan Crosby.