McCabe's masterclass
Maynooth's Matt Eustace wins the ball in front of Coill Dubh's Eanna O'Neill Photo: Sean Brilly
A masterclass from Cathal McCabe helped Maynooth claim their place in the knockout stages of the UPMC Senior A Hurling Championship as they recorded a facile Group B win over Coill Dubh in Manguard Park on Saturday afternoon.
County star McCabe weighed in with ten majestic points as Maynooth joined Ardclough at the top of the group with four points but for their vanquished opponents it leaves them with no points from two games and facing into a relegation decider in their final outing against Leixlip, just a year on from reaching the county final.
Coill Dubh looked liveliest in the opening minutes and had two Mark Delaney frees from long-range on the board before Maynooth broke sweat.
Maynooth weren’t long in getting into their stride though with seven points in succession between the 8th and 20th minutes, with McCabe leading the charge with four of those. Cormac Nolan and both corner backs Dan O’Meara and Cian Forde added to those to give Maynooth a comfortable lead.
It might have been more only for a brilliant save by Owen Lenehan on nineteen minutes when the excellent Kevin Dunne shrugged off his marker and got a shot away only for an unsighted Lenehan to push it out for a ’65.
Delaney converted a close-range free to temporarily stop the rot, but he was also responsible for five first-half wides as Coill Dubh struggled to stay in touch. Another McCabe free and a fine score from Ciaran Flanagan from near the sideline gave Maynooth a 0-9 to 0-3 half-time advantage.
The second half was a pedestrian affair with McCabe providing most of the highlights, adding five more points to his tally, with Flanagan and O’Meara adding their second points.
Try as they might Coill Dubh could not make much of a dent on the scoreline. Delaney scored their first point from play at the start of the half and added a free later on but Jamie Kenna and Johnny Byrne were the only others to score from play and Kenna’s afternoon took a turn for the worse late on when he was sent to the line for receiving his second yellow card from referee Conor Daly.
MAYNOOTH: Seán Bean; Cian Forde 0-1, Matt Eustace, Dan O’Meara 0-2; David Eustace, Seán Higgins, Kevin Carroll; Ciarán Flanagan 0-2, Mark Butler; Conor O’Grady, Micheál Hogan, Cathal McCabe 0-10 (4fs,2’65s); Kevin McNeill, Kevin Dunne, Cormac Nolan 0-1. SUBS: Ronan Dunne for Hogan 36, Mikey Gillick for Butler 43, Matt Melia for Higgins 48, Joe Millett for McNeill 55, Willie Lambe for Carroll 60.
COILL DUBH: Owen Lenehan; Dean O’Regan, Mark Grace, Fionn Moran; Jamie Kenna 0-1, Conor Gordon, Declan Flaherty; Dylan Brereton, Johnny Byrne 0-1; Seán Dunne, Mark Delaney 0-5 (4fs), Enda Keane; Evan Smullen, Éanna O’Neill, Chris Delaney. SUBS: Ryan Casey for C Delaney HT, Keenan Brereton for Smullen 43, Ross Carew for O’Neill 51, Ryan McGinley for Dunne 55.
REFEREE: Conor Daly
A masterclass from Cathal McCabe helped Maynooth claim their place in the knockout stages of the UPMC Senior A Hurling Championship as they recorded a facile Group B win over Coill Dubh in Manguard Park on Saturday afternoon.
County star McCabe weighed in with ten majestic points as Maynooth joined Ardclough at the top of the group with four points but for their vanquished opponents it leaves them with no points from two games and facing into a relegation decider in their final outing against Leixlip, just a year on from reaching the county final.
Coill Dubh looked liveliest in the opening minutes and had two Mark Delaney frees from long-range on the board before Maynooth broke sweat.
Maynooth weren’t long in getting into their stride though with seven points in succession between the 8th and 20th minutes, with McCabe leading the charge with four of those. Cormac Nolan and both corner backs Dan O’Meara and Cian Forde added to those to give Maynooth a comfortable lead.
It might have been more only for a brilliant save by Owen Lenehan on nineteen minutes when the excellent Kevin Dunne shrugged off his marker and got a shot away only for an unsighted Lenehan to push it out for a ’65.
Delaney converted a close-range free to temporarily stop the rot, but he was also responsible for five first-half wides as Coill Dubh struggled to stay in touch. Another McCabe free and a fine score from Ciaran Flanagan from near the sideline gave Maynooth a 0-9 to 0-3 half-time advantage.
The second half was a pedestrian affair with McCabe providing most of the highlights, adding five more points to his tally, with Flanagan and O’Meara adding their second points.
Try as they might Coill Dubh could not make much of a dent on the scoreline. Delaney scored their first point from play at the start of the half and added a free later on but Jamie Kenna and Johnny Byrne were the only others to score from play and Kenna’s afternoon took a turn for the worse late on when he was sent to the line for receiving his second yellow card from referee Conor Daly.
Seán Bean; Cian Forde 0-1, Matt Eustace, Dan O’Meara 0-2; David Eustace, Seán Higgins, Kevin Carroll; Ciarán Flanagan 0-2, Mark Butler; Conor O’Grady, Micheál Hogan, Cathal McCabe 0-10 (4fs,2’65s); Kevin McNeill, Kevin Dunne, Cormac Nolan 0-1. SUBS: Ronan Dunne for Hogan 36, Mikey Gillick for Butler 43, Matt Melia for Higgins 48, Joe Millett for McNeill 55, Willie Lambe for Carroll 60.
Owen Lenehan; Dean O’Regan, Mark Grace, Fionn Moran; Jamie Kenna 0-1, Conor Gordon, Declan Flaherty; Dylan Brereton, Johnny Byrne 0-1; Seán Dunne, Mark Delaney 0-5 (4fs), Enda Keane; Evan Smullen, Éanna O’Neill, Chris Delaney. SUBS: Ryan Casey for C Delaney HT, Keenan Brereton for Smullen 43, Ross Carew for O’Neill 51, Ryan McGinley for Dunne 55.
Conor Daly
