St Gabriels maintain championship momentum

St Gabriels and Kilburn Gaels served up an entertaining game of championship Hurling at McGovern Park, Ruislip on Saturday. Both sides fielded strong team selections for this rescheduled Rd 1 championship fixture and those in the stand got good value for the entrance fee. St Gabriels briskly opened their account with Conor O’ Carroll (2) and Rory Lodge (1) setting the tone in the early exchanges. Kilburn Gaels kept in touch on the scoreboard and clearly, we were in for a competitive joust. Although St Gabriels managed a goal on 17 minutes through Paddy Naughton, Kilburn responded well and finished the half strongly with three unanswered points before Eoin Kelly scored a free at the stroke of half-time.  The teams went in at the break 1-10 to 0-8.

Kilburn Gaels started the second half brightly with two quick points before Conor O’Carroll opened his second-half account with a quality point after some fine defensive play by Niall Geoghegan and Stephen Whelan. Eoin Kelly followed up with two quick frees before  O’Carroll and Sean Glynn picked off further points to keep the noses in front heading into the third quarter. It was only then that St Gabriels took charge with Cathal O Carroll charging through the middle to fire over a brilliant individual effort. Callum Gardiner then got in on the act and with Danny Coyne and Andrew Curtin also raising white flags, St Gabriels established a complete stranglehold on the game, eventually running out winners with a 10-point margin on a final scoreline of  1 – 24  to 0 -17.

St Gabriels conclude the group stage of the Capital Concrete Senior Hurling Championship next weekend when they take on the reigning Co-Champions Brothers Pearse at McGovern Park on Saturday (throw-in at 1 pm) in what should be an interesting game.