Tommy Larkins in Group A and Tynagh-Abbey Duniry in Group B secured important victories in the weekend’s hurling championship action.
It was Tommy Larkins’ first win in the competition and they defeated Athenry easily, 1-19 to 0-12, in Duggan Park on Sunday. Niall Kelly hit their goal in the first half following good work by Paddy Moroney.
Jason Flynn hit the key scores for the winners in the second half and Athenry, who have no points from competitive action on the field of play, will need to get something from their last game with Portumna if they are to have any chance of making the latter stages of the competition. However that is fairly unlikely based on all known form and, should Padraig Pearses beat Tommy Larkins in their last group game, a three-way play-off will be required to see who advances and who faces the threat of relegation.
Over in Kenny Park on Sunday, Tynagh-Abbey Duniry had a solid 0-22 to 1-10 victory over Kiltormer and they now join Carnmore and Liam Mellows on four points. Former Galway minor star Shane Moloney was in good scoring form in the first half and his side led 0-9 to 0-8 at half time.
Ronan Madden scored 0-4 from play in the second period to give Tynagh a big fillip, and when Kevin Broderick was sprung from the bench, he also raised two white flags to leave his side in good shape to reach the provisional quarter-finals at least.
Keith Kilkenny tried hard for Kiltormer and ended with six points over the hour.
