Carlow senior hurling side narrowly defeated by Dublin
Allianz Hurling League Division 1B, Parnell Park, Dublin 8/3/2025 Dublin vs Carlow Carlow's James Doyle dejected Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Leah Scholes
Carlow pushed Dublin all the way in this National Hurling League 1B tie at Parnell Park on Saturday.
The outsiders fronted up to the Metropolitans in the opening quarter as the sides shared six points. When the home side went short a cross-field pass was intercepted by Chris Nolan and ran ten meters before finding the Dublin net.
Carlow didn’t build on this and allowed their rivals to come back at them. Over the following ten minutes the Dubs outscored Carlow by 1-8 to 0-2 with David Purcell netting on 22 minutes. Carlow struggled to contain the home side and were punished when Brian Hayes added a second home goal.
Paddy Boland replied with a second Carlow goal but Dublin were rampant. In the half-back line, Daire Gray (2) and Kevin Burke (1) all featured on the scoreboard. By the interval all the Dublin midfielders and their six forwards scored from play.
The away side found a little bit more as the interval approached but Dublin led 2-19 to 2-8 at the break.
Probably knowing that the league points were in safe-keeping Dublin dropped their intensity after the resumption. James Doyle was Carlow’s play-maker and he ended up with five points over the seventy minutes.
Midway through the half, Chris Nolan had his penalty saved by Sean Brennan in the Dublin goal but after coming on to the field in the second half, Marty Kavanagh did find the Dublin net.
Carlow intensity was maintained in the second half but Dublin ran out deserving winners while the visitors will not be entirely disappointed with the performance.
Scorers Dublin: D Burke 0-10 (7fs), B Hayes 1-2, C Burke 0-5, D Purcell 1-1, C Donohoe 0-3 (1-sl), D Gray, R Hayes 0-2 each, K Burke, F Whitely, D O’Dulaing, C Crummey 0-1 each Carlow: James Doyle 0-5 (0-3fs), M Kavanagh 1-1, C Nolan 1-1, C Whelan 0-3 (fs), P Boland 1-0, J Nolan 0-1, E English 0-1, T Joyce, C Kehoe 0-1, K McDonald (f), R Coady, D Murphy 0-1 each. , DUBLIN: Sean Brennan; John Bellew, David Lucey, Conor McHugh; Kevin Burke, Chris Crummey, Daire Gray; Conor Burke, Conor Donohoe; Fergal Whiteley, Donal Burke, Brian Hayes; David Purcell, Ronan Hayes, Diarmaid O’Dulaing.
Subs: Sean Currie for Purcell (40), Danny Sutcliffe for R Hayes (51), Andrew Jamieson-Murphy for O’Dulaing (51), Paddy Smyth for Lucey (51), Paul O’Dea for Crummey (65), CARLOW: Brian Tracey; Paul Doyl,e, Dion Wall, Eric English; Fiachra Niall Bolger, Kevin McDonald, Jack McCullagh; Evan Kealy, Ciaran Whelan; Chris Nolan, Ted Joyce, James Doyle; Conor Kehoe, Paddy Boland, Jon Nolan.
Subs: Donagh Murphy for Kehoe (h/t), Fiachra Fitzpatrick for Whelan (h/t), Paidi O’Shea for Bolger (h/t), Richard Coady for English (51), Marty Kavanagh for Joyce (53), Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim).
