Kiladangan crush hapless Roscrea in Templederry to confirm semi-final date

Hibernian Inn North Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final

Kiladangan 2-29

Roscrea 0-16

Kiladangan were in no mood to show any weakness as they completely demolished a very poor Roscrea team to confirm their place in the last four of the Hibernian Inn North Senior Hurling Championship.

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The first of the three quarter-final ties, played in Templederry, this game was over from a very early stage as it became apparent quickly that these were two teams operating on different levels entirely, and even though Kiladangan started without three regulars in Sean Hayes, Billy Seymour, and Joe Gallagher, they never strained in their victory over the Reds.

Within 12 minutes, the reigning North champions raced into a 0-8 to 0-1 lead with Tadhg Gallagher and Neil Cahalan the scorers in chief as Roscrea, minus the likes of Luke Cashin and Kenny Lee on their side, were way off it, and that trend was unfortunately maintained throughout.

Their (Roscrea’s) efforts were summed up in the 23rd minute when John O’Meara’s attempted point from 50 yards seemed to be dropping harmlessly into the grasp of goalkeeper Daryl Ryan, but the usually safe hands of Ryan deflected the ball into the back of the net; a moment to forget for him.

At that, it was already game over as the free-scoring Kiladangan forwards pushed out the advantage at half-time to 1-16 to 0-5 in a hugely disappointing contest.

Roscrea threatened some sort of resurgence in the opening salvos of the second half when they notched three points in succession through Dan Ryan, Shane Fletcher (free), and the hard-working Conor Booth.

But that optimism was quenched quickly when Kiladangan hit two sharp points in response from Tadhg Gallagher and Willie Connors, before Dan O’Meara received the freedom of Templederry to whip home his side’s second goal after 35 minutes, essentially the game as a contest if it wasn’t already over by that stage.

From here, it was simply a case of playing out the time for both sides, but Kiladangan did pick off some fine scores despite that, with Neil Cahalan (3), Alan Flynn (2), Conor Byrne, Conor Culhane, and Dan O’Meara all having their shooting boots on, it helped the scoreboard tick over nicely from their point of view while Roscrea were desperately trying to keep the damage down as the clock ticked over.

Eventually, the final whistle went as Kiladangan easily booked safe passage to the semi-final, where they will renew acquaintances with rivals Toomevara in the Templederry on Wednesday evening, while Roscrea will need to dust themselves off quickly as they prepare for their county campaign.

Kiladangan: Barry Hogan (0-1); John O’Meara (1-1), James Quigley, David Sweeney; Willie Connors (0-2, 0-1f), Alan Flynn (0-2), Darragh Butler (0-1); Tadhg Gallagher (0-4), Dara O’Dwyer; Conor Byrne (0-6, 0-3f), Dan O’Meara (1-3), Paul Flynn (0-2); Brian McLoughney, Conor Culhane (0-1), Neil Cahalan (0-5).

Subs used: Joe Gallagher (0-1) for Sweeney (39); Darragh Flannery for Connors (42); Fergal Hayes for McLoughney (48); Sean Hayes for O’Dwyer (50).

Roscrea: Daryl Ryan; Shane Davis, Luke Seacy; Michael Campion, Darragh Tynan (0-2), Conor Sheedy (0-1); Conor Phelan, Owen Tynan; Dan Ryan (0-1), Shane Fletcher (0-6, 0-5f), Alan Tynan (0-1); Evan Fitzpatrick, Conor Booth (0-3), Leigh Loughnane.

Subs used: Enda Moloney for Daryl Ryan (39, inj); Sam Dooley (0-1) for Phelan (39); Jack Lee (0-1) for O Tynan (42); Liam Seacy for Dan Ryan (49); Conor Phelan for A Booth (56, inj).

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess)

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