Lower hurling divisions round-up: Kildare with work to do to seal promotion

KILDARE IS TO DO: Jack Sheridan in action for Kildare. Photo: ©INPHO/Evan Treacy

While Down’s win in Tralee on Sunday afternoon clinched promotion to Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League for the Mourne men, Kildare still aren’t quite over the line, and may need a positive result against Meath in a fortnight to take the other promotion spot.

On form, Kildare will be hotly-fancied to prevail. They crushed Tyrone by 2-34 to 0-8 in Cedral St. Conleth’s Park on Saturday, with Jack Sheridan (1-5), James Burke (0-6), Muiris Curtin (1-3), as well as Rian Boran, Paul Dolan and Cian Boran (0-4 each) all racking up the scores.

Meanwhile 0-13 from Jack Regan wasn’t enough for Meath to take anything out of their trip to Derry, as they fell to a 1-27 to 1-23 loss.

It was without doubt Derry’s best performance of the season, with lots of encouraging signs for the Oak Leaf county.

Patrick Turner was exceptional in defence, Christy McNaughton scored a penalty and while Mikey Cole goaled for Meath to bring the margin back to a point, the home side had eight scorers by half-time and were full value for a 1-16 to 1-9 lead.

Meath got back to within four going into the final quarter and even were just a goal adrift a couple of times, but a freescoring Derry attack, aided by the return of Cormac O’Doherty for his first action of the year, always came up with the scores they needed.

In Division Three, Mayo will travel to Aughrim on Saturday week and that will be a de facto promotion playoff, albeit with Mayo having the draw on their side.

Armagh are still in the drop zone after their 1-18 to 3-21 defeat to the Connacht side, but they will be encouraged by the manner in which they bounced back from conceding three points to Shane Boland and a goal to Joe Burke in the opening seven minutes.

Pauric McNaughton hit three from play for Armagh and Joe O’Connor found the net to nudge Armagh into a 1-11 to 1-10 half-time lead, and the Orchard men were still a point to the good with ten minutes to play.

Mayo produced a scintillating finish however, with Cormac Phillips and Shane Boland scoring goals that made the scoreboard look much more lopsided than the contest as a whole.

London’s 2-20 to 0-18 win over Sligo on Saturday confirmed promotion for the Exiles and relegation for the visitors to Ruislip, though here too, the final margin was deceptive.

A superb finish from David Devine gave London a strong start and helped them to lead by five, but Sligo hung in with points from Thomas Cawley and Andrew Kilcullen, and they missed a great chance to get right back in the game when Mark Kilgallon saved Gerard O’Kelly Lynch’s penalty after 24 minutes.

Sligo trailed by just two at half-time and were never out of sight, but a late goal from Devine brought his score to 2-7, and put a gloss on the scoreboard for the winners as well.

Cavan weren’t entirely out of the promotion mix before their trip to King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park on Sunday, but the Breffni men now have to look nervously downwards ahead of their final game against Armagh, following their 1-19 to 0-19 defeat in Roscommon. Brendan Mulry’s early goal proved to be the difference between two otherwise evenly matched sides.

The key contest in Division Four was at Brewster Park, where Fermanagh struck late points from Feargal McKiernan and Caolan Duffy to win by 0-21 to 1-16 and effectively seal their place in the top two.

Fermanagh now lead Leitrim by a single point with both teams still due to play their final round of games, but with Fermanagh set to take on winless Warwickshire at Abbotstown, it would be real surprise if the Erne County are overtaken by their western neighbours.

Longford looked like they might upset the odds in Dowdallshill when a Martin Farrell penalty made it 2-8 to 0-11 with 50 minutes play, but Louth were vastly superior in the final 20 minutes, scoring 11 points on the bounce.

Finally, Shane O’Boyle hit three goals and Pádraig Burke added a fourth, all in the opening quarter, as Lancashire beat Monaghan by 4-20 to 0-20 at Inniskeen.