Duhallow junior hurling league gets underway on St Patrick’s Day
Newmarket begin the defence of their title away to Castlemagner
The Twohigs Supervalu Junior A Hurling League is up and running on St. Patrick’s Day, a triple bill of games scheduled. Newmarket are defending holders after a breath-taking roller-coaster decider took victory from Dromtarriffe.
An epic encounter swung back and forth with the lead changing hands and the outcome was decided in the additional 20 minutes played. At stages, Dromtarriffe looked good enough to claim the prize on offer, particularly by the end of the first period of extra time.
However, Newmarket dug deep when required, that helped outscore Dromtarriffe 1-5 to 0-2 to confirm the destination of the spoils for Newmarket to bridge four years since their previous title won in 2018.
Newmarket begin the defence of their title away to Castlemagner, they look to a management consisting of Seán Irwin, D J O’Sullivan, Stephen Stokes and Neilly McCarthy. For their part, Castlemagner look to coach Denis O’Connell assisted by Mick Tobin, Tom Linehan and Donnacha O’Connell for guidance, hoping to turn the clock back to 2015 where they bridged 55 years to regain a hold of championship honours. That compensated for some frustrating days previously yet the club can boast of young players coming on board.
Kilbrin welcome county junior B champions Freemount, a new man at the helm is coach Dick O’Hara from Milford. It goes back to 2015 since Kilbrin’s previous league title though they have been runners up on a few occasions.
Freemount ‘s quest for county success bore dividends last summer, involvement in the divisional A Hurling League key to the success. Again Diarmuid O’Riordan heads the team management team, Freemount sure to be competitive.
Divisional champions Dromtariffe are home to Millstreet, losing a league final to Newmarket last season roused Dromtariffe to easily complete a three in a row of championship titles. A change on the sideline sees John O’Connor, Lorcán McLoughlin and Michael Byrnes part of the team management.
Millstreet took a league title in 2021 but disappointed last season on hit by depleted sides. Thomas O'Leary returns as coach, Millstreet are again down a few players yet they will be keen for a positive start against testing opponents.