Kilkenny IHC- Hunt goal saves Muckalee’s intermediate status at the death

You can call it a game of two halves, saving their blushes or snatching it from the jaws of defeat but St Martin’s certainly had all the luck on their side as a Sean Hunt goal deep in stoppage time saved their status and relegated the Fenians.

St Martin’s looked in deep bother for long spells but 1-3 without reply inside the final five minutes, stunned the Fenians with Hunt’s 64th minute goal getting Cheddar Plunkett’s outfit out of trouble.

The Johnstown boys almost looked as good as safe up to that late spell after they led by five points at the break but the scant total of just three scores left the door open and St Martin’s took it even if it was very late in the day.

Brian Coady got the game’s opening score for St Martin’s but Fenians soon grabbed control of the contest with Mark Webster scoring four points on the trot of which three came from frees.

Martin’s were then right back in the game when Jack Coogan went on a bursting run and fired a shot to the top corner past Damien Delaney for the opening goal of the game in the 12th minute.

Oisin Kelly and Shane Kinsella added on quickfire frees afterwards and all of a sudden they led 1-3 to 0-4.

The winning side couldn’t build on it though and went scoreless for the following 16 minutes with Fenians taking the game by the scruff of the neck through points by Mark Webster, Mark Hughes, Willie Brennan and Conor Tobin.

Shane Kinsella stalled the momentum against his team with his second free of the half but Fenians still had time to knock over three more scores via Webster, Hughes and Adam Duggan as they led 0-12 to 1-4 at the interval.

The second half turned into an incredibly tense affair with scores at a premium as just Cathal Phelan (Fenians) and Brian Coady (St Martin’s ) registered points in the opening 10 minutes upon the resumption.

Martin’s then hit a bit of a spurt with three successive Kinsella frees narrowing the deficit back to just two points.

With Mark Webster and Cathal Phelan adding to the Johnstown tally in the 50th and 53rd minutes, the North Kilkenny side appeared to have done enough but Martin’s threw caution to the wind and got the ultimate reward.

Kinsella, Coogan and Coady all pointed in succession to leave a point in it before Sean Hunt pounced for the match winning goal.

Teams and Scorers

St Martin’s - Shane Kinsella (0-6, frees), Jack Coogan (1-1), Sean Hunt (1-0), Brian Coady (0-3), Oisin Kelly (0-1, free).

Fenians - Mark Webster (0-7, 0-6 frees); Cathal Phelan, Conor Tobin, Mark Hughes (0-2 each); Adam Duggan, Willie Brennan (0-1 each)

St Martin’s - Oisin Kelly; Tristan Roche, Brian Byrne, Matthew Bolger; Colin Hayes, Michael Keane, Justin Manning; Shane Kinsella, Donal Shore; Aaron Farrell, Daniel Comerford, Brian Coady; Jamie Morrissey, Sean Hunt, Jack Coogan.

Subs: David Walsh for Manning, 19 mins; James O’Neill for Morrissey, h-t; Tadhg Gill for Comerford, 44 mins.

Fenians - Damien Delaney; Daragh McCormack, Rory Phelan, Padraig O’Grady; John Henderson, Rory Garrett, Jerry Henderson; Adam Duggan, Willie Brennan; Kieran Grehan, Conor Tobin, Mark Hughes; Regan Downey, Cathal Phelan, Mark Webster.

Subs: Sean Tobin for Brennan, 46 mins; Daragh Tobin for Hughes, 52 mins.

Referee - Richard Holland.