Kildare hurlers start impressively with Carlow win

Kildare hurling boss, David Herity, did not hide his pleasure at the performance of his side as they comprehensively defeated a somewhat under-strength Carlow in the opening round of the 2023 Kehoe Cup at Hawkfield on Thursday evening last.

These sides are due to meet on a few more occasions as the season unfolds and while one should not read too much into the final result of this early season game, nevertheless such a fine display will certainly do no harm for the confidence of the Kildare squad and management.

Herity said he was quiet pleased with the overall display and with the level of fitness his players showed.

“It is testament to the work that has gone with the lads for the last few months and while I know collectively we are only back since November 24 but they have done a huge amount of work individually prior to that with their gym work and I was very impressed.

“The group have put in a massive effort and it is very important, we need to get that momentum going early in the year, it is going to be a very competitive; four Kehoe Cup games then straight away into League and then Joe McDonagh so we need to hit the ground running at this level.”

Carlow opened with the first score of the game and led 0-3 to 0-1 after three minutes but gradually Kildare got into their stride with a few points from the impressive David Qualter and when the same player found the Carlow net after 22 minutes, Kildare took the lead for the first time and never looked back.

By half time the lead was out to seven points, the second goal coming after a poor clearance from Carlow saw Mark Delaney gain possession and he made no mistake.

The second half was more of the same with Gerry Keegan and Cian Boran adding points before Qualter set up Cian Boran for a well taken goal to make it 3-10 to 0-9 mid-way through.

From there to the end it was just a matter of how much the winning margin would be; Carlow were kept scoreless for over 20 minutes of the half as The Lilies went on to record an impressive win on a final score line of Kildare 3-19 Carlow 0-11.

David Herity said that he feels his panel is getting stronger and stronger.

“These young lads coming through, the likes of Cian Boran making his debut, Cormac Byrne, Cian Shanahan, coming back in, David Qualter who was injured last year, Paul Dolan, these are all lads of just 20 years of aged and it is just great to see these lads coming through ; a few years ago the average age of the squad was up around 28, that has been reduced but overall the competition is great; we are getting great competitive games and while Carlow probably have not as much work done as us but we will look back on this hopefully coming the end of May; some teams are putting in a lot of early work and others are not that is just the way things are at the minute.”

While happy with his display manager Herity was far from being over the top.

“Its great to get a win, gives the management team and the players a bit of a boost and I would always prefer to win especially by that score line than not win but our record in the Kehoe Cup has not been great but again it will all come down whether we get the wins in the rest of his competition, in the league and in the Joe McDonagh, a good start but that is all.”

Scorers: Kildare, David Qualter 1-5 (5 frees), Cian Boran 1-1, Mark Delaney 1-1, Cathal McCabe 0-2, Brian Byrne 0-2, James Burke 0-3 (1 free), Killian Aherne 0-1, Cian Shanahan 0-1, Paul Dolan 0-1, Gerry Keegan 0-1, Jack Travers 0-1,

Carlow, Ciaran Whelan 0-4 (2 frees), James Doyle 0-3, Richard Coady 0-2, Paddy Boland 0-1, Scott Treacy 0-1,

KILDARE: Paddy McKenna: Niall Ó Muineacháin; Sean Christanseen Cormac Byrne; Simon Leacy Conan Boran Cian Shanahan; Paul Dolan Cathal McCabe; David Qualter Gerry Keegan Johnny Byrne; Cian Boran Mark Delaney Killian Aherne. Subs: Brian Byrne for Mark Delaney (44 minutes); James Burke for Cian Boran (46 minutes); Jack Travers for Gerry Keegan (51 minutes); Rian Byrne for Sean Christanseen (53 minutes); Harry Carroll for Conan Boran (59 minutes); Declan Flaherty for Killian Aherne (59 minutes).

CARLOW: Brian Treacy; Niall Bolger, Conor Lawlor, Gary Lawlor; JP Tracey, Diarmuid Byrne, Paudie O'Shea; Richard Coady, James Doyle; Paddy Boland, Ciaran Whelan, Jon Nolan; Fiach O'Toole, Jack Treacy, Scott Treacy. Subs: Conor Kehoe for Paddy Boland (30 minutes); Jack McCullagh for JP Treacy (half time); Paul Doyle for Gary Lawlor (42 minutes); Ciaran Kavanagh for Jack Treacy (42 minutes); John Doyle for Jon Nolan (47 minutes); Kevin McDonald for Richard Coady (49 minutes); Jake Doyle for Scott Treacy (58 minutes).

REFEREE: Brendan Heaney, Westmeath.