IHC Round 2
9th September @ Ardclough
Ardclough 1-13 Naas 1-05

Mark Lynam

Ardclough got another win in the Intermediate ‘A’ Hurling Championship with an eight point victory over Naas. With both sides already having qualified for the semi-finals, both sides came to Ardclough looking to sharpen their form for bigger things to come.

Played in the unusual setting of the morning of the All-Ireland Hurling final, Ardclough deservedly took the points in this deferred round two tie.

Ardclough regrouped from their defeat to Maynooth last time out, which turned out to be their only loss in the championship group stages, to win this game comfortably.

Naas took the lead in the opening stages with a point a piece from Shane Perry and Richie Coyle. But closing in on half-time Ardclough were in front thanks to points from Declan Higgins, Ray Lynam and Mark Lynam (2 frees).

Ardclough looked to push on to the half but that was dented minutes before the break when Richie Coyle got the better of ‘Clough keeper Mikey Hogan to find the net.

Just before the break Ardclough’s Paul Hogan pointed to level the scores at half-time.

Half-Time
Ardclough 0-05
Naas 1-02

Like the first half, Naas were first to get back to scoring, thanks to a Shane Perry point.

Naas were aided by the wind in the second half but couldn’t get the better of the Ardclough defence for the majority of the half as the hosts asserted themselves on the game more.

Ardclough forward Mark Lynam added to his scoring tally with two pointed frees in a row and then raised the white flag with one from play to put them two points ahead with 20 minutes remaining.

Ross Traynor got another point for Naas, but Ardclough were growing in strength the longer the half went on.

 Naas were not to score until the closing few minutes of the game as Ardclough set about tagging on 1-05 before the final whistle.

The points came from Declan Higgins (3), Paul Hogan and Mark Lynam, while Lynam also found the net, blasting his shot past Naas keeper Eoin Begley.

Ardclough and Naas will both be looking to improve on this performance, and look set to face each other in the Semi-Finals.

Ardclough:

Mike Hogan; Derek McNamara, Ambrose Finnerty, John Coulston; Darragh Walsh, Colm Maguire, Ciarán O’Toole; Niall Devane, Tristan McGarr; Paul Hogan 0-02, Tomás Ryan, Declan Higgins 0-04; Ray Lynam 0-01, Dermot Coulston, Mark Lynam 1-06 (4f’s)

Subs:
Padraic O’Malley for D. Coulston, Ciarán Brady for A.Finnerty, Matt Stapleton for P.Hogan, Cormac McCarthy for M.Lynam

Naas

Eoin Begley; David Dunne, Tom Ryan, Robert Byrne; Conal Boran, Danny Sheehan, Hugh Keogh; Peter Purcell, Tommy Hennessey; Ronan Joyce, Shane Perry 0-02, Neil Swan; Ross Traynor 0-01, Richie Coyle 1-01, Niall Stafford

Subs:
Colm McTeague 0-01 for N.Swan