Mount Leinster Rangers 1-19; St Mullin’s 0-16
This Carlow final between the county’s big two hurling powers failed to live up to the billing of a classic as a Chris Nolan-inspired Mount Leinster Rangers had that bit too much armory on the day for St. Mullin’s at Dr. Cullen Park on Sunday.
The six-point win saw the winners annex their fourth title in the past half dozen years and they will fancy themselves for a good run in the upcoming Leinster club championship.
The clash marked the third successive final meeting between the two clubs, and this time around revenge was sweet for the Rangers men following their six point loss 12 months ago.
They say a good start is half the battle and once Paul O’Brien’s men found their range to race into a three point lead, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome. That feeling was added to when Nolan, who ended the day with 1-10 to his personal credit, got in for the game’s only green flag after seven minutes and further points saw the Mount men eight points to the good with only a third of the first half played.
Naturally the Saints weren’t going to take this lying down and points from Marty Kavanagh, Jack Kavanagh and Paddy Boland got them back into the frame as they were only four behind at the break on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-9.
For a spell after the break, we thought we had a game on our hands when Marty cut the deficit to a single goal and further points from the county man and James Doyle had the game set up with only a point between them 12 minutes after the changeover.
Nolan and Paul Doyle swapped score points to keep it a one-point game - then Nolan stood up again with two massive scores as Kavanagh got one back at the other end.
John Nolan and Chris Nolan with a brace of points eased the margin out to controllable levels for the winners and then Ted Joyce and top-scorer Chris Nolan rounded off the six-point victory to claim a 12th Willie O'Connor Cup success for the Kilkenny border club
Mount Leinster Rangers: F Foley; M Doyle, T Lawlor, S Joyce; R Coady, K McDonald, C Fitzpatrick; F Fitzpatrick, T Brennan; R Murphy, J Nolan (0-2), D Murphy (0-4); Cs Nolan (1-10, 0-7f, 65), E Byrne, T Joyce (0-3) Subs: D Tobin for R Murphy (38), E Kealy for Coady (44), M Malone for S Joyce (60).
St Mullins: SMurphy; P O'Shea, P Doyle (0-2), C Harris; G Coady, P Kehoe, J Doyle (Drummond); E O’Shea, J Doyle (Dranagh) (0-1); J Kavanagh (0-1), C Kehoe, J Doyle (0-1); C Kavanagh (0-1), M Kavanagh (0-7, 0-6f, 65), P Boland (0-3) Subs: O Boland for E O’Shea (44), O Ryan for C Kavanagh (56), L Brennan for J Doyle (Drummond 59).
Ref: D Hickey (Fenagh).
