Leinster SHC round-up: Oulart and Clonkill advance to semi-finals

Oulart-the-Ballagh 3-8 Clough-Ballacolla 0-13

Beaten in six previous provincial deciders, Wexford champions Oulart-the-Ballagh are an hour away from reaching their seventh after an impressive second half display at Portlaoise on Sunday.

The Laois champions started very well and posted four points on the board before the visitors opened their account with a point by defender Paul Roche and five minutes later after a good solo run Murtha Doyle beat Dan Hanlon in the home goal for the equaliser.

The remainder of the half was very even and on the call of time points by Stephen Maher and Willie Hyland saw the home team lead by 0-8 to 1-4 at the interval but when Oulart were awarded a penalty Rory Jacob made no mistake.

Points by Maher and Hyland had the teams level after 38 minutes but Oulart went two clear approaching the final quarter. Then a mistake saw David Redmond blast his sides third goal and after that the Wexford champions took control.

But had the Laois champions not been so careless in front of goal they might have snatched a draw late on.

Oulart now travel to Mullingar facing Clonkill in the semi-final in two weeks.

Clough-Ballacolla: D Hanlon; C Coonan. D Maher, E Doyle; J A Delaney, M McEvoy, L Cleere; R Broderick (0-1), T Delaney (0-1); S Maher (0-5), S Hanlon, W Hyland (0-4); A Corby (0-1), W Dunphy, R Phelan (0-1); Subs S Bergin for W Dunphy 37m, B McEvoy for S Hanlon 45m, D Bergin for T Delaney 51m, M Dunphy for A Corby 58m.

Oulart-the-Ballagh: C O'Leary; P Roche (0-1), K Rossiter, B Kehoe; E Moore, S Murphy, K Sheridan; D Redmond (1-0), P Murphy; G Sinnott, T Storey, D Mythen (0-2); R Jacob (1-4), P Sutton, M Doyle (1-0); Subs D Nolan for P Sutton 37m, M Og Storey for M Doyle 46m, M Jacob for P Murphy 41m, B Dunne (0-1) for D Nolan 55m.

Referee: Peter Burke (Kilkenny)

Clonkill 4-9 St Mullins 0-9

Brendan Murtagh and Niall Dowdall contributed a combined total of 4-3 as the midlanders hammered St Mullins of Carlow on Sunday to reach the Leinster SHC semi-finals.

St Mullins started brightly and led 0-3 to 0-1 in the early stages, with pointed frees from Marty Kavanagh and James Doyle.

But the game changed completely once Clonkill were awarded a 12th minute penalty for a foul in the large square on visiting left full forward Anthony Price by home goalie Kevin Kehoe. Brendan Murtagh came upfield to hammer the penalty into net. The Clonkill number six went on to record his sides’s opening 2-1, scoring a second goal from a close-range free on 19 minutes. In total the influential Clonkill centre back contributed 2-2 from placed balls.

Niall Dowdall struck for his team’s third goal on 27 minutes as the Lake County men stormed into a 3-4 to 0-7 interval lead. When Dowdall, who notched 2-1 from play, again found the St Mullins net early in the second half it killed off any hopes of a revival for the home champions.

The Lake County side showed far greater hurling skill and hunger for victory than an out-of-sorts St Mullins.

The final 20 minutes saw Clonkill in cruise control as they ran their opponents ragged to book a home meeting in the provincial semi-final against Oulart-The Ballagh of Wexford.

The pace, teamwork and scoring power of the Westmeath champions proved far too much for their Carlow counterparts, whose discipline let them down on the day. Six St Mullins players received yellow cards before midfielder Jack Kavanagh was issued with a second yellow in the 54th minute.

Clonkill: G Healy; S Power, C Scally, J Fagan; L Folan, B Murtagh (2-2, 1-2 frees, 1-0 pen.) A McGrath; P Dowdall (0-1), E Price; M Heffernan, A Price, P Walsh; A Dowdall (0-2), N Dowdall (2-1), A Price (0-2, 0-1 free). Subs: D Egerton for Walsh (h/t); C Thompson (0-1) for P Dowdall (44); N Mitchell for N Dowdall (49); N Folan for Heffernan (56); M Keegan for E Price (56).

St Mullins: K Kehoe; P Doyle, J Doran, G Bennett; D Whelan, P Kehoe, G Coady; J Kavanagh, M Walsh; P Fortune, J Doyle (0-3, 0-1 free), M Kavanagh (0-6, 0-5 frees); J Walsh, J Murphy, P Kehoe. Subs: P Connor for Fortune (37); J Murphy for P Kehoe (55); A Doyle for Whelan (58).

Referee: G McGrath (Dublin).