Billy Ryan
Bord Gáis Energy Leinster U-21 Hurling Championship Quarter-Finals
Kilkenny 0-21 Dublin 0-16
Wexford 4-21 Offaly 2-9
Westmeath 1-20 Laois 0-21 (aet)
Carlow 1-21 Kildare 2-14
By Kevin Egan
Hurling in Dublin regained some lost pride but still came up short tonight in Nowlan Park as Kilkenny recorded a 0-21 to 0-16 victory in a hugely entertaining under-21 contest, one of four top quality ties that took place all across the province tonight in the quarter final round of the Bórd Gáis Leinster championship.
There were no goals scored but plenty of top quality points at the home of the victors, four of which came from the stick of Graigue-Ballycallan attacker Billy Ryan, who will dominate the highlight reel.
Alan Murphy was also in excellent form from frees and from general play while Cats’ supporters will do well not to get too excited by the prospect of yet another Tommy Walsh from Tullaroan lording matters in the half back line!
However, Dublin had their moments too and with Colin Currie leading the way on the scoreboard, they trailed by just two points at the break, 0-9 to 0-7.
Donal Burke, Rian McBride and Fergal Whitely all had their moments for Dublin in the second half, but, try as they might, they couldn’t overhaul the Cats lead and so it is Kilkenny who will advance to meet Westmeath in the Leinster semi-final.
Westmeath’s campaign looked to be dead and buried as their clash with Laois at TEG Cusack Park crept into injury time, as Mark Kavanagh’s excellent marksmanship lit up a contest that was otherwise littered with wides, but a late goal from Ciarán Doyle and an excellent equalising score from Darragh Clinton left the teams tied at 1-13 to 0-16 at the end of normal time.
Ciarán’s twin brother Killian ended the night with 0-10 to his name, and. while it seemed for long stretches as if Westmeath were overly dependent on the Raharney man, James Goonery, Clinton and Ciarán Doyle all popped up with excellent scores in extra time to help Adrian Moran’s side to a 1-20 to 0-21 victory and a chance to repeat their remarkable win over Kilkenny from this competition last year.
Killian Doyle
The final score of 4-21 to 2-9 in favour of Wexford at Wexford Park doesn’t tell the full story of what was a very tight contest for three quarters of an hour between the Model County and Offaly, and the Faithful County will regret a series of missed chances in the third quarter that prevented them from hitting the front and threatening an upset.
Oisín Kelly’s goal after two minutes set the visitors out to the best possible start but Wexford replied brilliantly and when Stephen O’Gorman netted, they led by three. Liam Langton’s flick on Cillian Kiely’s high ball once again tied the sides up midway through the half but Wexford powered on to lead by 1-10 to 2-4 at the interval.
Despite facing into the wind, Offaly dominated the third quarter but racked up a plethora of wides and never got closer than two points behind, and once O’Gorman added a second major, Wexford started to fire over scores at will. Cathal Dunbar (1-6), Darragh Pepper (1-2) and Rowan White (0-3) all tore the Offaly defence apart in the closing stages and did enough to establish Wexford as the front runners to win back the provincial crown that they won three times between 2013 and 2015.
**Carlow **will complete the semi-final lineup after a **1-21 to 2-14 **victory over Kildare at St. Conleth’s Park, and supporters at Newbridge were also very well-entertained tonight as the sides were level until midway through the second half, when a series of points from Kevin McDonald, Cathal Tracey, Chris Nolan and substitute Aaron Amond put breathing room between the teams that Kildare simply couldn’t close.
Until that stage, the fixture was dominated by Kildare’s James Sheridan, who fired a total of 2-9 (1-7f) to cancel out strong performances from McDonald (1-5), Tracey (0-4) and Nolan (0-4).
