Round-Up of the Go-Ahead Ireland Senior 2 Hurling Championship Quarter-Finals

Eight became four in the Go-Ahead Ireland Dublin Senior 2 Hurling Championship as Raheny booked their place in the semi-finals when accounting for Thomas Davis by 4-19 to 0-21 in St Anne’s Park. 

As the scoreline suggests, it was the ability of the hosts to find the net that proved the difference with Liam Dunne scoring a brace of goals on his way to a personal tally of 2-4. 

The visitors were also undermined by a dismissal approaching half-time as they faced an uphill task at the break, trailing by 3-8 to 0-10. 

Raheny were in no mood to cede their control with Brian Howard and Jack Fagan also netting and they confirmed their victory through the scoring returns of Conor White (0-4), Mark Murphy (0-3), Jack Lyons (0-2) and Adam McAweeney (0-2).

There was another home win at Farnham Drive as Erin’s Isle got the better of Naomh Mearnóg by 1-20 to 1-14. 

An early Conor Donohoe point set the tone as the hosts dominated the initial proceedings and with Mikie Donohoe excelling, Isles built up a healthy 0-11 to 0-5 interval lead. 

Gradually, the visitors began to find some form with a well-worked Liam Mullins goal bringing them back into contention while scores by Shane Kavanagh, Joey Kinnane and Stan Kinnane saw them edge to within three points. 

Despite Ciaran McCarthy impressing for Mearnóg, their momentum stalled as Mikie Donohoe, who finished with 1-8, netted for the Finglas outfit and Nathan Fitzgerald also caused numerous headaches for the away defence from full-forward in addition to scoring four points from play.  

The hosts continued to preserve their lead with Lorcan Finnegan a hugely influential presence at full-back and they built up a winning total through points from Luke Lowndes, Ollie Gaffney, Tadhg Gorman, Graham King, Robyn Fitzpatrick and Fran Carroll. 

The only team to taste success on their travels were Ballyboden St Enda’s, who completed a positive day for the club when edging Castleknock by 1-19 to 2-15 at Somerton Park. 

In what was a strong team performance by the visitors, the likes of Liam Dargan, Jono O’Driscoll, Fionn Maguire, Kevin Desmond and Darragh Ormsby took the game to Castleknock throughout. 

O’Driscoll top scored with ten points and with Ormsby scoring an impressive 1-6, St Enda’s did just enough to prevail thanks to a point apiece by James Roche, Shane Kennedy and Darragh Smyth.  

The final spot in the last four was claimed by a Faughs side who took control after the break on their way to a 1-24 to 1-18 win against Ballinteer St John’s. 

The visitors will rue a number of poor wides in the opening-half but they still managed to eke out a 0-12 to 0-11 interval lead thanks mainly to the free-taking of Tommy Cullen and three points from play by Rob Aherne.

The hosts continued to add to their tally through the scoring returns of James O’Brien and Conor Brennan while goalkeeper Eoghan McNamara making some crucial interventions throughout. 

St John’s continued to battle through the efforts of Tom Aherne, Iain Ó hEithir, Brian Cahill and Sean Mulligan but their contributions and a late goal by Seamus Fenton failed to spare them their fate.  

Elsewhere, both Clontarf and Kilmacud Crokes preserved their SHC2 status for next year following relegation play-off wins over Fingallians and Na Fianna respectively.  

SHC2 Quarter-Finals: Erin’s Isle 1-20 Naomh Mearnóg 1-14; Faughs 1-24 Ballinteer St John’s1-18; Castleknock 2-15 Ballyboden St Enda’s 1-19; Raheny 4-19 Thomas Davis 0-21. 

SHC2 Relegation Play-Offs: Clontarf 3-21 Fingallians 2-14; Na Fianna 0-21 Kilmacud Crokes 1-22.