By: Mary Dunne
AIB Leinster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship Round 1
Carnew Emmets: 1-11
Clodiagh Gaels: 0-11
Clodiagh Gaels run in the Leinster Club Hurling Champions came to an end when they fell to the Wicklow Champion Carnew Emmets following a hard slog on Saturday last in Glenisk O’Connor Park, Tullamore.
Facing off against the Wicklow Senior Hurling Champions, this was always going to be a testing affair for the Offaly Senior B Champions, who were bidding to continue what has been a hugely successful year for their club.
Not only crowned Senior B Champions, but a lot of the players also collected the Junior A Football title and with them also lining out in the Junior A Hurling final on Sunday, it really has been a dream year for the Killeigh/Killurin amalgamation.
This clash was played in extremely testing conditions with driving wind and rain, it was a horrendous day for hurling, with players and spectators alike getting the “lovely” welcome to winter hurling and in the end it was the case of the old saying “goals win games” coming to the fore.
Clodiagh Gaels no doubt will be extremely disappointed with the outcome. Lining out minus three off their regulars Dylan Hyland, Emmet Curley and Mark Dillon who currently are all out of the country, no team can afford to be minus any players and certainly those of their caliber and it certainly did show for them in the second half in particular.
Naturally they will be disheartened, but when the dust settles on it all they can look back on 2026 as being a huge year that the made significant inroads and there is no doubt they will only get stronger as the years move on.
Clodiagh Gaels had ample amounts of possession in the second half, but their shooting and indecision did let them down and they always left the gap there for their opponents to hold on.
Carnew Emmets held on. They were floating against a stream for the long time and they will know too well that they got out of jail on Saturday, but nonetheless it was a massive win for the travelling Wicklow side.
It was the visitors who had the aid of the wind in the opening half and with the majority of the possession going their way in the opening half, it was lucky for Clodiagh Gaels that they weren’t as accurate on the scoreboard as they should have been.
In the opening ten minutes alone, they had fumbled and miss hit a lot of their scoring opportunities, but finally with eleven minutes on the clock they got off the mark with a well struck ’65 from Padraig Doran.
Doran who lined out at centre back was extremely dominant for the remainder of the half and he was part and parcel for the reason that Carnew Emmets held a seven point lead at the interval.
Clodiagh Gaels did have some good chances too in the opening exchanges but the wind certainly played havoc with a lot of their shots getting caught up in the gusts.
A nice score from Thomas Collins stretched the Carnew Emmets lead to two, and with that they certainly had found their range.
They doubled their lead to four, 0-4 to no score by the 16th minute with two fine scores from Fionn Darcy and a huge long range score from Padraig Doran and really the Offaly side now needed a score to keep them in touching distance.
The score finally came on the twentieth minute with Liam Langton landing a free, but in what was a brilliant purple patch for the visitors who continued with their scoring through Fionn Darcy, his second from play giving them a five point cushion, but there was more damage to be inflicted on Clodiagh Gales with Tom Brennan stole a march on the defence.
He rounded the defence brilliantly and with a lovely cut inside in made no hesitation in cracking the ball to the net and with that they led by 1-5 to no 0-1 with twenty four on the clock.
There was no stopping them now and with follow up scores from Padraig Doran, his third of the half and another score from the very dangerous Tom Brennan, the Wicklow Champions were 1-7 to 0-1 to the good with twenty seven played.
Clodiagh Gaels did finish the half well and with two vital scores from Cathal Brady and Liam Langton to leave the half time scores reading 1-7 to 0-3 and it all to do for the Offaly side.
Cathal Brady reduced the gap on the resumption with a fine score after excellent work by Joey Keenaghan, but with a massive score at the other end from Tom Brennan after Kevin Kinahan had pulled off a great save, left the gap still at seven, 1-8 to 0-4 on thirty two minutes.
Joey Keenaghan hit over his opening score, but in game that saw Carnew Emmets fight for absolutely everything, they had an answer with a nice score from Daniel Redmond to bring the scores to 1-9 to 0-5 with thirty three played.
Liam Langton landed a much needed score for Clodiagh Gaels and with a follow up free moments later and a massive score from Joey Keenaghan on the 42nd minute the gap was suddenly four, 1-9 to 0-8 and a game certainly in the melting pot.
The gap was back to three on the 46th minute thanks to another Liam Langton free, and now it was all Clodiagh Gaels.
They were winning all the possession now, but their slot selection when they had their opponents on the rack was poor at times. Clodiagh Gaels lost a lot of ball in both the tackle and also in their passing and it really was starting to come against them.
Out of nowhere Carnew Emmets broke the momentum of the game, with a free from Padraig Doran and the gap was four again 1-10 to 0-9 with fifty four played.
Clodiagh Gaels and Liam Langton had it back to three seconds later with another free from the number eleven.
Padraig Doran landed another free following a harsh enough call on Clint Horan on the 59 minute to leave the scores reading 1-11 to 0-10 with a minute of normal time to play.
Liam Langton did have the final say of the game with a late injury time free, but in the end it was Carnew Emmets who marched on. The final scores reading 1-11 to 0-11.
The Scorers
Carnew Emmets: Tom Brennan 1-2, Padraig Doran 0-5 (0-2 Frees, 0-1 ’65), Fionn Darcy 0-2, Thomas Collins 0-1, Daniel Redmond 0-1.
Clodiagh Gaels: Liam Langton 0-7 (Frees), Cathal Brady 0-2, Joey Keenaghan 0-2.
The Teams
Carnew Emmets: Robert Fitzgerald; Cormac Redmond, Conall McCrea, Conor Byrne; Rian Rooney, Padraig Doran, Thomas Collins; Rory Stokes, Aaron Kinsella; Kenneth Cullen, Wayne Kinsella, Daniel Redmond; Fionn Darcy, Eoin Kavanagh, Tom Brennan.
Subs: Jack Doyle for Eoin Kavanagh (Half Time), Paudie McGing for Kenneth Cullen (46 mins), Justin House for Rian Rooney (60 mins).
Clodiagh Gaels: Kevin Kinahan; Caolan Flanagan, Clint Horan, Conor Berry; Diarmuid Walsh, Aaron Flanagan, Conor Langton; Liam Langton, Ruairi Dunne (Capt.); Sean Dunne, Eoin Dunne, Joey Keenaghan; Cathal Brady, Sean Rattigan, Sean Brady.
Sub: Peter Walsh for Sean Rattigan (56 mins).
Referee: Colin Bailey (Laois).
