The Village ease to big victory in Minor Hurling League Final

It was all one way traffic as James Stephens emphatically claimed victory in the Kilkenny Honda Centre Roinn A Minor league final at a wet UPMC Nowlan Park on Monday evening.

The city side were much too good for a Young Irelands side that only had one scorer on the night in Ben Phelan while in contrast, the Village had eight different players on the scoresheet including Jacob Breslin and Sean Casey who both scored two goals apiece.

Despite the cracking sunshine over the weekend, the game took place in the midst of a weather warning with thunder and lightning causing chaos nearby but despite patches of water emerging underfoot, the pitch held up well given the circumstances.

Young Irelands of Gowran were without a number of players but they still made the brighter start when Ben Phelan goaled in the 3rd minute after the centre forward took advantage of a slip in defence by James Stephens corner back Noah Manogue.

Phelan converted two more frees before the half-time interval but in that intervening period James Stephens struck 3-6 as they essentially put the game to bed.

After missing a couple of early chances, the Village eventually found the net in the 9th minute when Sean Casey shot past Tim Brennan after an earlier effort rebounded into his path.

Two minutes later Casey struck again and after Stephen Manogue fired over a pair of points , goal number three came along with Jacob Breslin finding the net in the 21st minute.

Breslin finished in style but it was the build up play that took the eye as despite losing his hurl Oisin Bateman kicked the sliotar into the and of Ed Lauhoff who then assisted Breslin.

Breslin, Manogue and Ed McDermott then knocked over further points before the interval as the Village continued to impress.

Phelan got Gowran’s sole point from a free in the second half as James Stephens maintained their dominance on the scoreboard.

Breslin and Andy Murphy added to the goal tally while Ed McDermott, Sean Bergin, Ed Lauhoff and Stephen Manogue pointed further efforts as James Stephens won with 23 points to spare in the end and in this form they will be very hard to beat in the upcoming championship.

Teams and Scorers

James Stephens - Jacob Breslin (2-2), Sean Casey (2-0), Stephen Manogue (0-5, 0-3f), Ed McDermott (0-4), Andy Murphy (1-0), Daniel Ring , Sean Bergin, Ed Lauhoff (0-1 each)

Young Irelands - Ben Phelan (1-3, 0-3f)

James Stephens - Daniel Power; Noah Manogue, Joe Greene, Billy Wall Young; Liam Holohan, Sean Deely, Oisin Bateman; Sean Bergin, Stephen Power Kellet; Ed Lauhoff, Stephen Manogue, Ed McDermott; Daniel Ring, Jacob Breslin, Sean Casey.

Subs- James Bergin for Holohan 46 mins, Ruairi Harrison for Bateman 48 mins, Bill McDermott for Casey 50 mins, Andy Murphy for S.Bergin 50 mins, Ruairi Holland for Power Kellet 52 mins.

Young Irelands - Tim Brennan; Andrew Corbett, David Langton, Richard Nolan; Shane Simpson, Jake Byrne, Jim Conlon; James Brennan, Luke Phelan; Cian Phelan, Ben Phelan, Eoin O’Neill; Thomas Langton, Diarmuid Langton, Sam Brennan.

Subs- Kieran Timmins for Brennan h-t, Jake Kelly for L.Phelan 40 mins, Matthew Murray for Nolan 40 mins, Darragh Travers for T.Langton 42 mins, Timmy Brennan for J.Brennan 52 mins, Darragh Doyle for Corbett 56 mins.

Referee - Stephen Delaney