Kilkenny IHC- Bright start sends James Stephens on their way

A strong start to the game was half the job as James Stephens held off a late Gowran rally in Sunday’s Michael Lyng Motors IHC semi-final at UPMC Nowlan Park.

A Stephen Manogue goal in the seventh minute gave the Village an early buffer they would never release and although they slackened off a little in the second half, the hot favourites had already done enough.

Trailing by 10 points at the break, Gowran gave themselves plenty to do but a goal from Paddy Langton and two points apiece by impact subs Cian Phelan and Diarmuid Langton did give them hope for a brief period until Luke Scanlon settled the contest with a couple of efforts from play.

James Stephens had the aid of a strong wind at their backs in the opening half and they immediately went about making full use of it with Tadhg O’Dwyer, Stephen Manogue and Willie Spencer all splitting the posts in the first six minutes.

Young Irelands were all at sea in defence during that opening spell and worse was to come when Stephen Manogue netted for the city side after Eoin Guilfoyle initially had an attempt rebound off the woodwork.

Jim Conlon eventually got Gowran off the mark with a point from play in the 8th minute and that did settle them down for a period with Killian Carey and Seamus Farrell also hitting the target.

O’Dwyer and Oisin Bateman kept the Village plugging away and with four more points on the spin between the 15th and 20th minutes, Eoin Larkin’s team all but put the game beyond Young Irelands reach.

Kilkenny star Cian Kenny registered two fine efforts from play during this stanza while Willie Spencer continued to do damage in the half-forward line.

Gowran’s last two points of the half arrived from Ted Drea but even then they were too cancelled out by O’Dwyer and Eoin Guilfoyle as the Village led 1-12 to 0-5.

Young Irelands did raise a gallop at the start of the second half when a well taken Paddy Langton goal gave them a route back into the contest.

Successive Luke Scanlon efforts negated the impact of the goal initially before Gowran introduced Diarmuid Langton and Cian Phelan who both had big showings from the bench.

The Young Irelands pair contributed four points between them but with Scanlon, Niall Mullins and Tadhg O’Dwyer continuing to knock over points here and there, James Stephens remained relatively comfortable.

Late points from Mikey Carey who had moved into the attack at this stage and Ted Drea got the deficit back to five but with a couple of goal chances being missed and Killian Carey getting sent off for his part in a late melee, the chance had gone for Young Irelands and as a result the Village are now just one win away from a return to the senior ranks.

Teams and Scorers

James Stephens - Tadhg O’Dwyer (0-7, 4fs); Stephen Manogue (1-1); Luke Scanlon (0-3); Cian Kenny (0-2); Oisin Bateman, Willie Spencer, Eoin Guilfoyle, Niall Mullins (0-1 each)

Young Irelands - Ted Drea (0-4); Paddy Langton (1-0); Killian Carey (0-2, 2fs); Diarmuid Langton, Cian Phelan (0-2 each); Jim Conlon, Seamus Farrell, Mikey Carey (0-1 each)

James Stephens - Sean Manogue; Luke Murphy, Niall Delaney, Ben Lawlor; Shane Donohoe, Cian Kenny, Sean Bergin; Oisin Bateman, Jamie O’Keeffe; Niall Mullins, Luke Scanlon, Willie Spencer; Eoin Guilfoyle, Tadhg O’Dwyer, Stephen Manogue.

Subs: Ed Lauhoff for Guilfoyle, 43 mins; Ruairi Harrison for O’Keeffe, 54 mins; Sean Deely for Stephen Manogue, 65 mins.

Young Irelands - Sean Kehoe; Geoff Brennan, Michael Walsh, Sam Brennan; Jim Conlon, Mikey Carey, Paddy Langton; Killian Carey, Padraig Naddy; Padraig O’Neill, Seamus Farrell, Tommy Phelan; Dylan Carey, Ted Drea, Thomas Langton.

Subs: Cian Phelan for T Phelan, 37 mins; Diarmuid Langton for D Carey, 39 mins; Jake Byrne for O’Neill, 51 mins; Sean Farrell for Walsh, 59 mins.

Referee - Maurice Flynn (Mooncoin)