Hurlers suffer another heavy defeat on the road

Kildare 2-34 Tyrone 0-8

SLICK Kildare proved far too strong for the Tyrone hurlers in a one-sided affair at Cedral St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge on Saturday afternoon.

It was a fourth win out of five for the Lilywhites and keeps them in the driving seat to join Down in going up to Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League, particularly with Meath losing to Derry at the weekend.

Tyrone, on the other hand, saw their relegation fate sealed against the Christy Ring Cup winners from 2025, and, despite opening the scoring through an Aidan Kelly free, there was never a realistic chance of Stevie McGarry’s side producing a miracle.

Having shipped a whopping nine goals against Down, on this occasion Tyrone’s opponents were more focused on picking off long-range scores with ten different players getting on the mark in the opening half.

James Burke with four points led the way as Kildare hit 1-21 with only four in reply from their visitors before the interval.

Defenders Rian Boran and Paul Dolan weighed in with three, as did midfielder Cian Boran, with three Kelly frees and a fine point from play from Ciaran Magill Tyrone’s only replies.

Magill’s point, superbly swept over after getting out in front of his marker, was one of only two from play for the away side on the day, the other coming from Kelly.

Although focused on point-scoring, Kildare did find the net on eighteen minutes when Cian Boran latched onto a batted clearance from goalkeeper Conall Molloy and offloaded to Muiris Curtin to finish to an empty net with the netminder off his line.

Kildare understandably dropped the pace a little after the break but Jack Sheridan slotted home a fine finish from a Darragh Melville cross for their second goal on 44 minutes and Tyrone’s race was well and truly run six minutes later when a high challenge on the talented Sheridan saw wing-back Tiernan Morgan red-carded.

Burke and Rian Boran continued to lead from the front for Brian Dowling’s side, finishing on six and four points respectively.

The Red Hand men battled on as Kildare continued to rack up the scores but nine second half wides hampered their cause, in spite of a couple of frees from Michael Little.

Scorers

Kildare: Jack Sheridan (1-5, 2f), James Burke (0-6), Muiris Curtin (1-3), Rian Boran (0-4), Cian Boran (0-4), Paul Dolan (0-3), David Qualter (0-2, 2f), Jack Higgins (0-2), Daire Guerin (0-1), Cathal McCabe (0-1), Darragh Melville (0-1), James Dolan (Celbridge) (0-1), Killian Harrington (0-1).

Tyrone: Aidan Kelly (0-5, 4f), Michael Little (0-2, 2f), Ciaran Magill (0-1).

Teams

Kildare: Mark Doyle, Liam O’Reilly, Matt Eustace, Rian Boran, Harry Carroll, Cathal McCabe, Paul Dolan, Daire Guerin, Cian Boran, James Burke, David Qualter, Muiris Curtin, Jack Sheridan, Darragh Melville, James Dolan (Celbridge). Subs used: James Dolan (Éire Óg Corra Choill) for P Dolan (h-time), Killian Harrington for D Qualter (h-time), Cormac Byrne for C Boran (41), Jack Higgins for D Melville (48), Conn Kehoe for J Sheridan (55).

Tyrone: Conall Molloy, Ronan Molloy, Fionn Devlin, Cian McGuigan, Lorcan Devlin, Cormac Munroe, Tiernan Morgan, Aidan Kelly, Kiefer Morgan, Turlough Mullin, Branán Molloy, Mark McCann, Conal McKee, Ciaran Magill, Michael Little. Subs used: Fionn Corry for K Morgan (18), Rory Weir for M McCann (48), Aidan Woods for C McKee (48), Ronan Maguire for B Molloy (53), Michael Coyle for R Molloy (58).

Referee: James Clarke (Cavan)