Evergreen and Freebooters tussle it out for Premier Division points - Kilkenny Live
Evergreen 3, Freebooters 1
Evergreen have moved eight points clear of Fort Rangers at the top of the St Canice's Credit Union Premier Division with a derby win over Freebooters on the Kells Road.
Gary Maher's side are unbeaten so far this season in domestic football and are red hot favourites to secure their eleventh successive title.
For Freebooters, it's very much a season of transition and they're keen to settle in a number of young players who have broken into the first team squad.
The Fair Green outfit have steadily improved as the season has progressed and visited Evergreen's home patch on Friday night with four wins in a row under their belt.
In what proved to be a competitive fixture, early goals for Evergreen proved to be key with the hosts two to the good after 21 minutes.
A Paul Kiely own-goal (18 minutes) and an eleventh goal of the campaign for Mikey Drennan doubled the advantage three minutes later.
Spanish native Hamza El Harrak pulled the deficit back to one on the 25th minute for 'Booters but despite their best efforts, they could never find that allusive equaliser.
The in-form David Grincell sealed the three points just on the hour mark, with the 37 year old netting in his last four matches.
The victory leaves the champions top of the tree on 39 points, while Freebooters are 16 points off the top in 3rd spot.