It was a game of all seasons as a torrential downpour of rain appeared just as Brian Farrell threw in the ball, though the rain eased off by the end of the first half, the gale force wind continued to blow despite the sun shine for the second half.
Castletown had the wind to their advantage in the first half, but with the rain accompanying it, they struggled to make the advantage pay and could only manage to hold a one point lead by the break, and in layman’s terms, it was a seven or eight point wind.
Borris-Kilcotton fielded a strong side, aided by the absence of PJ Scully and Jer Quinlan from this year’s Laois panel and they contributed ten of their team’s 15 points. The visitors arguably created the better chances with the elements against them in the first half and that continued into the second as they went on to see out the win.
Kyron Cuddy, Rory Kelly and Benny Reddin were all on target from play while
last year's Minor Hurler of the Year, Tom Og Phelan opened his senior hurling account with a free from his own 45 to give Castletown a four point lead early on.
With his absence from this year's Laois panel, Borris-Kilcotton were able to call upon PJ Scully once again to land three tough frees into the breeze and Dean Carey added from play to level. Phelan struck two more excellent long range frees and Rory Kelly landed his second point from a novel position at half forward before the half was out, but Jer Quinlan and Eoin Fitzpatrick kept just a point between the teams at the break.
With the sun now shining and the wind at their backs Borris-Kilcotton were in a good position to attack the lead and they hit four of the opening five scores through Scully, Eoghain Coss, Quinlan and Niall Coss, with a reply from Conor Doran sandwiched between.
Borris-Kilcotton were dominating the majority of the play in the second half and had the Castletown backs under a lot of pressure, though Shane Phelan and Tadhg Cuddy both impressed in defence for the hosts and Phelan drove over another impressive free to cut the gap back to one.
PJ Scully replied in kind however and Eoghain Coss split the posts beautifully from the left wing as he was being taken down before Castletown gained a golden opportunity to cancel out the three point gap when Kyron Cuddy was hacked down for a penalty.
The pressure lay on the shoulders of young Phelan whose strike into the top left corner was masterfully intercepted by Eoin Fleming, though Phelan did get some consolation from sweetly striking the resulting 65 over the bar. The momentum soon turned back to the visitors however with two further Scully points and a third for Quinlan, sealing the victory before a late consolation score from Conor Walsh.
There’s a three week gap now until the next round of fixtures when Borris-Kilcotton will be hosting Portlaoise, while Castletown will be on their travels to Durrow to take on The Harps.
FINAL SCORE
BORRIS-KILCOTTON 0-15
CASTLETOWN 0-11
SCORERS - Borris-Kilcotton: PJ Scully 0-7 (six frees), Jer Quinlan 0-3, Eoghain Coss 0-2, Niall Coss, Eoin Fitzpatrick and Dean Carey 0-1 each. Castletown: Tom Og Phelan 0-5 (four frees, one 65), Rory Kelly 0-2, Kyron Cuddy (free), Benny Reddin, Conor Doran and Conor Walsh 0-1 each.
CASTLETOWN: Patrick Mullaney; Killian Cuddy, Shane Phelan, Evan Cuddy; John Gaughan, Ryan Peters, Tadhg Cuddy; Conor Walsh, Callum Peters; Tom Og Phelan, Conor Doran, Rory Kelly; Kyron Cuddy, Aaron Phelan, Benny Reddin. Subs: Conor Phelan for A Phelan (ht), Shane Cuddy for Reddin (41), Tommy Goode for K Cuddy (46).
BORRIS-KILCOTTON: Eoin Fleming; Frank McGovern, Steven Finan, Conor Kilbane; Evan Quinlan, Philip Tynan, Niall Coss; Eoin Fitzpatrick, Stephen Dunphy; Eoghain Coss, Dean Carey, PJ Scully; Jer Quinlan, David Ryan, Kyle Abraham. Subs: Daire Fogarty for S Dunphy (37), Daire Quinlan for Ryan (45), Conor Kirby for Abraham (55).
Referee: Brian Farrell (The Harps)
