Kilkenny IHC- Young Irelands survive Blacks and Whites scare

Young Irelands had to dig deep to book their spot in the semi-finals of the Michael Lyng Motors Hyundai Intermediate Hurling Championship on Sunday, turning around a three point half-time deficit to beat a brave Blacks and Whites team in Clara.

The Gowran outfit, who cruised to a 25-point league win over the same opposition earlier this year, faced a revitalised Skeough team buoyed by their surprise relegation semi-final defeat of Carrickshock last weekend.

The turning point of the contest arrived just over a minute into the second half as a dispatched Killian Carey penalty turned around his team’s fortunes.

The opening 10 minutes saw some well-taken points and equally wasteful wides.

Young Irelands were 0-4 to 0-1 to the good inside the opening 10 minutes with Sean Carey (1-11) raising two white flags alongside Ted Drea and Seamus Farrell.

Slowly but surely though the 2022 junior champions began to find their rhythm and improve their shooting. A strong five minute period from the 18th to 23rd minutes, saw the Blacks & Whites convert five points without reply courtesy of five different scorers to lead 0-9 to 0-6.

Two late first half points from Jason Byrne and a Sean Carey free left the scoreline at 0-10 to 0-7 in favour of the Blacks & Whites at half-time.

However, this would be as good as it would get for Dave Guiney’s team as Young Irelands showed their class in the second half, outscoring their opponents 2-12 to 0-6.

A Killian Carey netted penalty in the opening minute began the half brightly for the Gowran men but they did meet resistance.

A hat-trick of Niall Kennedy frees and a Martin Kelly score responded in kind to scores from Sean and Killian Carey along with Seamus Farrell to leave the scoreline 1-10 to 0-13.

Blacks & Whites’ ultimate downfall would be their failure to score from the play in the final 20 minutes with a Niall Kennedy free, who subsequently went off through injury and a brace of placed balls from Ryan Murphy all the Skeough men had to shout about.

Meanwhile, for Young Irelands, the Carey show came to the fore in that final period. A powerful run and score from Mikey left the scoring at 1-15 to 0-15 with 11 minutes to go before Mikey was yet again involved in the scoring for the stripey men just two minutes later, this time starting a move which would finish with Sean Carey dinking the ball past Keelin O’Grady to kill the game as a contest (2-15 to 0-15).

Four points from Sean Carey saw out the game for the Young Irelands.

Teams and Scorers

Young Irelands - Sean Carey (1-11, 0-7 frees); Killian Carey (1-2); Ted Drea (0-3); Seamus Farrell (0-2); Mikey Carey (0-1).

Blacks & Whites - Niall Kennedy (0-7, frees); Ryan Murphy (0-2 frees); Martin Kelly, Jason Byrne (0-2 each); John Lennon, Jamie Byrne (0-1 each); Sam Byrne (0-1 free).

Young Irelands - Jason Brennan; Geoff Brennan, Bobbie Brennan, Sean Farrell; Michael Walsh, Mikey Carey, Paddy Langton; Killian Carey, Padraig Naddy; Jimmy Lennon, Seamus Farrell; Padraig O’Neill; Sean Carey, Ted Drea, Pat Farrell.

Sub: Diarmuid Langton for Padraig O’Neill.

Blacks & Whites - Keelin O’Grady; Jamie Ryan, Tommy Joyce, Michael Prendergast; Senan Doyle, Niall Kennedy; John Lennon, Martin Kelly; Jamie Byrne, Jack Kelly, James Kennedy; Daire Murphy, Sam Byrne, Jason Byrne.

Subs - Killian Phelan for Niall Kennedy, Ryan Murphy for Senan Doyle, Emmet Foley for Sam Byrne, Louis Brennan for James Kennedy.

Referee - Eoin Maher (Mullinavat).