Carlow 3-22
London 2-7
By Charlie Keegan

CARLOW hurlers blew the London challenge out of the water in the opening half of this NHL Division 2A tie at Netwatch Cullen Park on Sunday, Colm Bonnar’s men establishing an unassailable 2-16 to 0-4 half-time lead which made the second-half a purely academic exercise. The Exiles’ position was further diminished by finishing the game with 13 men.
Last year London provided a banana skin for the Barrowsiders, shocking Carlow on a scoreline of 5-16 to 1-11 at Carlow headquarters. On that occasion Kevin O’Loughlin was Carlow’s nemesis, scoring 3-9. So Carlow would have been relieved to see O’Loughlin listed at number 23 on London squad. He did make an appearance at half time, proceeded to score 2-1, but by the time of his introduction London’s cause was long past redemption.
After London’s Stephen Bardon had twice given his side the lead with early points playing into the strong wind, Carlow took complete control. With Jack Kavanagh and Jack Murphy outstanding in midfield, backed up by an effective half-back line of Richard Kelly, David English and Seán Whelan, the scores flowed freely for Bonnar’s men.
They had sailed into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead on 18 minutes when Jack Murphy’s strong run provided an overlap for Ballinkillen’s Craig Wall to crash home a great goal. While they were mixing their scores with a number of wides the overall domination of the home side, made for a very one-sided contest.
In all, 10 Carlow players shared in this score fest. When Chris Nolan scored his first point of the game on 23 minutes all six starting Carlow forwards had scored as they stormed 1-11 to 0-3 ahead. The Mount Leinster Rangers clubman was to finish with an impressive 1-4 from play, just pipped for top-scoring ranking by Craig Wall, whose tally was 2-3. Wall’s second goal came on 34 minutes, the heavy lifting for this score provided by Eddie Byrne.
An 18-point half-time deficit was never going to be bridged by the visitors no matter how strong the wind was. As it happened, the second half worked out as a draw – Carlow’s 1-6 being matched by London’s 2-3.
That second half saw a drop off in Carlow’s intensity. That was only to be expected, given their facile lead – also the introduction of five second-half substitutes probably had a disruptive effect on the overall effectiveness of the team.
In fairness to London, they battled bravely but their misery was complete when two of their players received straight red cards – half-time substitute Bill Walsh and midfielder Brian Regan.
No-one will be running away with notions about the scale of this Carlow win. But with five points from three league outings there is certainly a spring in the Carlow step at the moment and there was plenty to admire in terms of commitment, skill and score-taking from Sunday’s game, even allowing for the fact that it was a very poor showing from London.
There is certainly a determination in the Carlow camp to do all in their power to escape from Division 2A and ply their trade at 1B level in next year’s league.
Goalie James Carroll could not be faulted for either goal, O’Loughlin’s penalty and close free were fierce drives. The Erin’s Own man distinguished himself with a fine save when London threatened a goal from Adam Murphy on 14 minutes, blocking with his feet when a London green flag might have made a difference. Carlow led 0-5 to 0-2 at the time and really made best use of their let-off after Bardon drove the resultant 65 wide of the posts.
Carlow head to St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge on Sunday next for a must-win game against neighbours Kildare who lost narrowly to Antrim on Sunday to lose their place at the top of the table.
Carlow: James Carroll, Alan Corcoran, Paul Doyle, Gary Bennett; Richard Kelly; David English (0-1, free), Seán Whelan (0-1); Jack Kavanagh (0-1), Jack Murphy; Seamus Murphy (0-1), Paul Coady (0-6, 0-5 frees), Eddie Byrne (0-2); Chris Nolan (1-4), Craig Wall (2-3), John Michael Nolan (0-2). Subs: Ross Smithers for Byrne (45 mins); Eoghan Redmond for Kelly (56 mins); James Doyle (0-1) for Coady (58 mins); Seán Brennan for J Doyle (injured) (63 mins); Adam Casey for Bennett (63 mins).
London: Eoin Kelly; Fergal Collins, Oisín Gately (0-1, Mark Conroy ; Stephen Griffey, Conor Kerr, Neil Rogers; Brian Regan, Thomas Lawrence Enda Cooney, Paul Uniacke, Stephen Bardon (0-5, 0-2 frees, 0-1 65); Ciarán Lambert, Tadgh Healy, Adam Murphy. Subs: Alan Griffith for Collins (injured) (30); Daryl Roberts for Rogers (h/t); Richard Murphy for Lawrence (h/t); Kevin O’Loughin (2-1, 1-0 pen, 1-0 free, 0-1 sideline) for Kerr (h/t); Bill Walsh for Lambert (h/t).
Referee: M Murtagh (Westmeath).