Graigue Ballycallan 0-17 Thomastown 1-12
GBC travelled to Thomastown to take on the reigning 2022 Kilkenny Féile B Champions in the 2nd round of the League. Thomastown had an impressive victory in the Féile Final over a strong Glenmore team (Glenmore beat GBC in the Féile semi-final by 6 points).
This was a lively affair where defences dominated and scores were hard to come by. Ben McEvoy opened the scoring for GBC with a point in the 6th minute. Cormac Neary chipped in with 3 points between the 7th and 12th minutes (1 free) and by the middle of the first half GBC led by 0-5 to 0-3
GBC were marginally the better team in the first half which finished 0-9 to 0-6 in favour of the Sky Blues. All of the Thomastown scores bar one came from the Thomastown centre forward who was a real handful but full credit to Michael Tynan who stuck to his task well and cleared a lot of ball.
The second half was a very tight game with both teams exchanging points (and wides) throughout. In the 20th minute, the Thomastown forwards hit the net to bring them right back to within a point of GBC (0-14 to 1-10) and set up a grandstand finish.
The GBC defence soaked up a lot of pressure for the last ten minutes. Oran Hoyne and Shane Cody never gave an inch and goalie Shane Hogan was rock solid. At the other end, Cormac Neary knocked over 2 points and Eoghan Cahill one.
In the last minute of the game, Sean O’Halloran made a great interception and clearance down the field to see the game out with a narrow margin of 2 points.
On the night Thomastown were missing their regular centre back. They have a fine team and will definitely have a big say in the latter stages of the championship.
GBC take on the Ballyhale Shamrock in the 3rd round of the league on May 5th
Scorers for GBC: Ben Mc 0-4, Cormac Neary 0-9, Eoghan Cahill 0-3, Tony Butler 0-1