U23 All Ireland Championship 5th Round
Kilkenny 0-12 Galway 1-9
By Aoife Lanigan, PRO
Kilkenny’s U23 team came away from UPMC Nowlan Park last Saturday with a draw against Galway which was a dress rehearsal for next Saturday’s All Ireland Semi Final
Just last week, Kilkenny were placed fourth on the table & set to play Cork in the Semi Finals but after it was revealed in the Referee’s match report that Cork had used an extra sub in the match against Kilkenny. The Cats were awarded the three points and with Saturday’s draw, this moved Kilkenny up to third in the table, with Cork now facing Tipperary in the other Semi Final
From the throw in, Galway went on the attack and midfielder Jennifer Hughes slotted over the bar.
Kilkenny equalised through Katie Byrne who had adventured forward and hit over a lovely point
SWAPPED POINTS
Laura Kelly & Rachel Dowling swapped pointed frees before Galway then hit the next three points through their Full Forward Cora Kenny, but Kilkenny came back into the game and hit the next three points through Rachel Dowling (f), Ellen Gunner & Amy Brennan
Ellen Gunner’s point was an excellent score – Tara McGrath cleared it from defence & Ellen made a great catch between two Galway defender, she turned and hit over a beauty
Keara Ryan then slotted over a point for Kilkenny to put them ahead again before Katie Gilchrist equalised for the Westerners
Heading towards the interval, Galway got in for a goal through Niamh McInerney
Rachel Dowling converted a free on the stroke of half time to leave the score Galway 1-6 Kilkenny 0-7
Kilkenny started the brighter in the second half & hit three points through Keara Ryan & Rachel Dowling (2f) to go a point ahead
Over the next 14 minutes, both teams tried to add to their tallies but to no avail
Laura Kelly equalised for Galway with a point from play while Emma Mulhall & Rachel Dowling (f) slotted over a point each for Kilkenny to put them ahead again
It looked like it might be Kilkenny’s day, but an infringement by the homeside heading into injury time gave Larua Kelly a chance to equalise and she duly obliged to leave the Final score Kilkenny 0-12 Galway 1-9
The teams will now meet again at a Galway venue this Saturday with a place in the Final of this new competition on the line
Speaking after the game, manager Emma Kavanagh was pleased with how her side battled through
Tough
“It was a very good game of hurling and it was very tough conditions, for both teams,” she said
“You see that the two teams needed to put on five subs each so that’s just a testament to how hard our girls worked and how much they gave themselves”
“I do think that we edged it on workrate from start to finish and while there ‘s a few chances that we didn’t convert, we still played well and we’ll look to continue in that vein ahead of the semi-final next week”
The Kilkenny CBS teacher also added the importance of the newly formed competition
“The Championship has replaced the Intermediate for second teams and our main goal is to win matches but we also want to see players develop in some way or another, be it technical or tactical bit,” she said
“We just want to see them improve as they come through the U23 system”
Scorers – Kilkenny – Rachel Dowling 0-6 (5f), Keara Ryan 0-2, Katie Byrne, Amy Brennan, Ellen Gunner, Emma Mulhall 0-1 each
Galway – Laura Kelly 0-4 (2f), Cora Kenny 0-3, Niamh McInerney 1-0, Jennifer Hughes, Katie Gilchrist 0-1 each
Kilkenny – Sinead Farrell, Hannah Larkin, Katie Ryan, Sofia Kerr, Katie Byrne, Tara McGrath, Aisling Browne, Laura Phelan, Muireann Gannon, Amy Brennan, Ellen Gunner, Ciara O’Keeffe, Amy Cody, Rachel Dowling, Keara Ryan
Subs – Lauren Ronan for Amy Cody, Emma Mulhall for Laura Phelan, Rachel Whelan for Tara McGrath, Eadaoin Coady for Ashling Browne, Kate McCluskey for Amy Brennan, Rachel Moloney, Maire Claire O’Dwyer, Emma Poyntz, Eabha Carroll, Anna Doheny, Katie Brennan, Julie Lennon, Rose Kelly, Niamh Holohan, Laoise Nolan, Caoimhe Carroll (Capt), Grace Barcoe
Galway – Laura Feeney, Reitseal Kelly, Orla Mullins, Ava Crowe, Katie Manning (Capt), Katie Anna Porter (Vice Capt), Joanne Daly, Aoibhe Carr, Jennifer Hughes, Aoibheann Barry, Catherine Hanley, Laura Kelly, Niamh McInerney, Cora Kenny, Katie Gilchrist
Subs – Aoibhe Joyce for Catherine Hanley, Alannah Fahy for Orla Mullins, Ava Bloomer for Aoibheann Barry, Emma Brogan, Chloe Allen, Zoe Rodgers, Molly Mulryan, Kayla Madden, Sorcha McGinley, Ellen Burke
Referee – Andy Larkin (Cork)
By PRO Thu 26th Jun
