Roche top scores as Leixlip battle to victory over 14 man Clane in SHC

Leixlip 1-18 Clane 1-14 Senior Hurling Championship Preliminary Round Leixlip got their Senior Hurling Championship campaign off to the perfect start with a tightly fought victory over Clane. Leixlip were helped when Clane lost Shane Ryan to a red card at the back end of the first period but it wasn’t until Stephen Ryan netted in the second half that the seal was put on the result. John Roche was in stunning form for the victors with his eight points putting the team in Maroon and White into an ideal position. A first half goal from David Gibbons had put Clane into an early lead but the loss of Ryan eventually told with Leixlip’s fresher legs winning out. Leixlip began the brighter with John Roche knocking over a brace of points with his second attempt tipped over the bar by Mark Doyle after he tried to force a goal. Clane replied with a David Gibbins free before the same player then found the net in the 7^th minute when a point attempt from Bernard Deay rebounded off the bar and directly into the hands of Gibbons and he made no mistake in beating Lee Hogan. Leixlip retaliated with points from Roche and Cathal Derivan and although Clane added on another Gibbons free, Leixlip began to take command. Roche, Derivan, Aidan Ryan and Stephen Ryan were all on target in a quickfire period that gave Tom Melville’s outfit an 0-8 to 1-3 lead. Conor Graham landed a fine point from distance for Clane in response but they then suffered a huge blow when Shane Ryan was given a straight red card for an attempted pull on a Leixlip player. After Ryan’s dismissal the two teams then exchanged scores with Gibbons and Bernard Deay on target for Clane before Roche and Stephen Ryan responded in kind to give Leixlip an 0-11 to 1-6 lead at the break. Sean Christiansen knocked over a point from range in the opening stages of the second half and although that brought Clane to within a point it was from here that Leixlip went into overdrive with four points in a row. A Roche free was followed up by efforts from play by Cian Bracken and Cathal Melville while Cathal Derivan also scored even if he wanted a goal but his shot was too high. That gave Leixlip a five point lead and while Clane replied via a Gibbons free, Leixlip looked like they had put the seal on the result when Stephen Ryan raced clear before firing the sliotar past Mark Doyle and all of a sudden Leixlip had a 1-15 to 1-8 buffer. Clane then began to throw the shackles off and a pair of points from Paddy McKenna and efforts from Simon Healy and Robbie Hyland had Clane back to within a score entering the final ten minutes. It was then tit for tat with consecutive McKenna frees cancelled out by points from play by Roche and Stephen Ryan. A Conor Graham score from out the field at the beginning of stoppage time gave hope that Clane would still be able to get something out of the game but alas it wasn’t to be with Conor Burke knocking over an insurance score as Leixlip battled to a four point victory.   Leixlip; Lee Hogan; Diarmuid Shinnors, John Doran, Brian Nicholson, Cathal Derivan 0-3, Padraig Mulrennan, Ryan Doyle, Jack Travers, Cathal Melville 0-1, Cian Bracken 0-1, Aidan Ryan 0-2, Stephen Ryan 1-2, Conor Burke 0-1, John Roche 0-8 (0-4fs), Lorcan Shinnors. Subs used: Alan Murphy for Mulrennan 56 mins. Clane: Mark Doyle; Sam Donovan, Michael Cahalan, James Coonan, Conor Graham 0-2, Sean Christiansen 0-1, Christian Smith, Eimhin Gillman, Cillian Ryan, Paddy McKenna 0-3 (0-2fs), Shane Ryan 0-1, David Gibbons 1-4 (0-4fs), Simon Healy 0-1, Bernard Deay 0-1, Brian Giffney. Subs used: Robbie Hyland 0-1 for Giffney 39 mins, Brian Healy for Gibbons 47 mins.   Ref: Fergus Devereux Jnr