Concession of early goals costs Clonakenny

County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Group 3

Boherlahan-Dualla 2-18

Clonakenny 0-16

Boherlahan-Dualla got the promotion bounce and more in their first outing in the County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship, registering an impressive win over a seasoned Clonakenny in Littleton on Sunday.

Two early goals from Mark Downey inside four minutes gave Boherlahan a cushion that would stand to them in the second half when Clonakenny came on strongly, and in a strong final ten minutes, the Sash bagged six of the last seven points in that period to secure an encouraging win in their return to tier 2 of the county championship.

Clonakenny were always chasing the game after the concession of those two Downey goals, and they were up against it before the throw-in after experienced players Peadar Byrne and Bobby Bergin cried off injured in the warm-up with Conor Nesbitt and Conor Shanahan replacing them.

They were big losses for Clonakenny as their ball-winning ability and leadership were badly missing in the game, and the directness they could bring was sorely missed; especially late on when Clonakenny needed goals to get back into the game.

Tomas Ryan was the key player for Boherlahan-Dualla in this victory with the wing forward pulling all the strings for his side, hitting frees with accuracy, and adding a scoring touch from play to boot, finishing with nine points to his name.

It was his free that made it a point apiece on two minutes after Cian O’Dwyer had Clonakenny off the mark from the throw-in, and the two Downey goals were quick to come with his first effort an individual effort, cutting in from the end line to open the goal up for himself and bury the sliotar to the net.

Darragh Hickey turned provider for Downey’s second a minute later when he ran down the centre of the Clonakenny defence to feed Downey on the overlap and he made no mistake to finish with confidence. A quick start by the Sash.

Clonakenny were far too passive in the opening minutes, and they knuckled down in the next ten minutes - up to the quarter mark - hitting six points in a row with Cian O’Dwyer in fine form with three points from play to add to his earlier effort while John Joe Ryan (2 frees), and a long-range MJ Carroll point levelling the game at 2-1 to 0-7.

Boherlahan managed to arm-wrestle their way through that tough period and had a three-point lead built up by half-time, largely through the exploits of Tomas Ryan who hit four (two free) of their final five points of the half as they led 2-6 to 0-9 at the interval.

Clonakenny will have felt they were well in contention as - the two early goals aside - they were doing more of the hurling in the first half, but it never transferred to the second half as Boherlahan started well with James Kirby and Euan Ryan on the scoresheet inside five minutes.

The scores were far more free-flowing for the Sash now with Euan Ryan hitting his second and third up to the 50-minute mark along with Cathal Darcy, and Tomas Ryan (2) hitting the mark too as Clonakenny struggled for purchase up front.

Clonakenny had to work hard for scores for much of the half and late on, they came looking for goals with the result slipping away but the Boherlahan defence held firm as the intermediate champions of 2023 secured the win with two Darragh Hickey points, a Johnny Ryan effort and late free from Tomas Ryan giving them a great start to life at the Premier Intermediate grade.

Player of the Match: Tomas Ryan (Boherlahan-Dualla)

Boherlahan-Dualla: Darragh Lacey (7); Charlie Ryan (7), Tomás Bourke (7), Johnny Ryan (0-1, 7); Dylan Fogarty (6), Martin Paul O’Dwyer (7), Ger O’Dwyer (7); Euan Ryan (0-3, 8), Cathal Darcy (0-1, 7); James Kirby (0-1, 7), Niall O’Dwyer (6), Tomas Ryan (0-9, 5f, 9); Mark Downey (2-1, 8), Darragh Hickey (0-2, 7), Seamus Leahy (6).

Subs: Fionn McCullagh (6) for O’Dwyer (44); Jake Canny (6) for Kirby (53); David Clarke (NR) for Hickey (60+2).

Clonakenny: Willie Costigan (6); John Costigan (7), Diarmuid Ryan (7), Alexei Harty (6); MJ Carroll (0-1, 7), Willie Ryan (6), Proinsias Matthews (6); John Joe Ryan (0-7f, 7), Cain Russell (0-1, 6); Delacy Byrne (0-1, 6), Conor Shanahan (0-1, 6), Cian O’Dwyer (0-4, 8); Matthew O’Sullivan (6), Nicky Ryan (0-1, 7), Conor Nesbitt (6).

Subs: Brian Mullally (6) for Costigan (50 inj); Sean Maher (6) for Nesbitt (56).

Referee: John Lillis (Drom & Inch)