Offaly claimed back-to-back Bord na Móna Walsh Shield honours on Sunday, while Galway and Kilkenny will contest the Walsh Cup decider, GMIT and St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra will face-off in the Kehoe Cup final and Armagh and Fingal will meet in the Kehoe Shield decider.
Bord na Móna Walsh Shield Final
Joe Bergin bagged an impressive 16 points for Offaly as they overcame DIT by 0-22 to 1-14 after extra-time at O’Connor Park, Tullamore.
Bergin fired the equalising point in the 70th minute to force extra-time on a 0-15 to 1-12 score-line, with the only goal coming in the first half from Paudge Phelan for the students.
Offaly powered ahead in extra-time to outscore their opponents by seven points to two, as David Kenny captained the Faithful County to victory.
Bord na Móna Walsh Cup
In the Bord na Móna Walsh Cup, it was victory on the double for the hosts counties as Galway accounted for Laois at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe; while Kilkenny were victors over Westmeath at Castlecomer.
Anthony Cunningham’s stint as the new Tribesmen boss is continuing to reap rewards, with his side 2-19 to 0-11 victors.
Joe Canning fired 1-10 for the hosts over the course of the game, including six first-half points from frees as Galway led by 0-9 to 0-5 at the break.
James Regan cut loose on the restart, netting the first goal of the contest, just 25 seconds into the second half.
Galway continued apace with good scores from Conor Cooney and Canning, with the latter netting his sides second goal after 43 minutes.
John Power registered 1-8 as Kilkenny claimed a 1-23 to 1-16 win over Westmeath at Castlecomer.
Power was certainly a central figure, registering four of Kilkenny’s five unanswered points late on to withstand a strong second half comeback by the visitors.
Richie Mulrooney’s youthful side stormed to an 0-11 to 0-1 lead, with Brendan Murtagh keeping Westmeath in touch.
Power’s goal arrived within 30 seconds of the restart, with the visitors breaching the Kilkenny goalmouth for first time in the 59th minute to cut the deficit to four points.
Just two points separated the teams with seven minutes remaining, before Kilkenny dug deep to claim a seven-point win.
Bord na Móna Kehoe Cup
The Bord na Móna Kehoe Cup final will be an all-colleges affair after semi-final wins for GMIT and St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra over Trinity College and Meath respectively at the weekend.
GMIT were pushed all the way by a determined Trinity College side at the Clan na nGael Fontenoy GAA Club in Dublin’s Ringsend on Friday night, before emerging 2-21 to 2-15 winners after extra-time.
Galway native Jimmy Gelston bagged 11 points for the Western college in a game which saw GMIT show the early initiative thanks to goals from Niall Mannion (1-1) and Aidan Lynch (1-2), but Trinity registered two green flags of their own before the break as goals from Colm Gleeson and Mark O’Sullivan powered them to a 2-10 to 2-7 interval lead.
Little separated the sides in the second half, with Gelston’s fire-power ensuring extra-time.
Offaly’s Colm Coughlan was the scorer-in-chief for Trinity College with nine points, all from placed balls.
GMIT took control in extra-time to finish six-point winners.
Wexford’s Kevin Nimmo was St Patrick’s Drumcondra’s hat-trick hero as the students powered to a 5-16 to 1-16 win over Meath at Pairc Tailteann, Navan on Sunday.
Six players were on target for the visitors, with Clare’s Niall Arthur bagging nine points, while Thomas Breen and Canice Maher claimed their sides other goals.
Bord na Móna Kehoe Shield
In the Bord na Móna Kehoe Shield visitors Armagh made their long journey to Athleague worthwhile, as they booked a final berth thanks to a 4-9 to 3-6 win over Roscommon.
Neil Duffy (2) and Conor Corvan bagged first half goals for the eventual winners, who led by seven points at the break.
Despite Roscommon outscoring Armagh in the second half, the visitors had done enough in the opening 35 minutes to secure a final berth against Fingal next weekend.
Bord na Móna Leinster GAA Series BRIEFS:
O’Byrne Cup/Shield (Overall)
* Highest Winning Margin: 14 points (Dublin 4-14 UCD 0-12 – Cup Qtr-Final)
* Lowest Winning Margin: 1 point (DCU 0-18 Wicklow 1-14, Longford 0-13 Athlone IT 1-9 – Cup 1st round; Wexford 1-15 Wicklow 0-17 (AET) – Shield semi-final)
* Highest Aggregate Score: 38 points (Dublin 4-14 UCD 0-12 – Cup Qtr-Final)
* Lowest Aggregate Score: 16 points (Meath 0-11 Louth 0-5 – Cup Qtr-Final)
* Average Score: 26.88 points per game
O’Byrne Cup/Shield Top Scorers (Overall)
Dean Rock (DCU) 0-15
Tomas Quinn (Dublin) 0-15
Colm Kelly (Laois) 0-12
Sean McCormack (Longford) 0-12
Ronan Sweeney (Kildare) 2-6
Alan Freeman (DIT) 0-11
Graham Reilly (Meath) 0-11
Donal Kingston (UCD) 0-10
Seanie Furlong (Wicklow) 0-10
David Conway (Laois) 0-10
Jack Brady (DCU) 1-7
Walsh Cup/Shield (Overall)
* Highest Winning Margin: 32 points (Galway 6-25 UCD 1-8)
* Lowest Winning Margin: 1 point (NUI Galway 1-11 Wexford 0-13; Kilkenny 0-13 NUI Galway 0-12)
* Highest Aggregate Score: 54 points (Galway 6-25 UCD 1-8)
* Lowest Aggregate Score: 25 points (Kilkenny 0-13 NUI Galway 0-12)
* Average Score: 36.27 points per game
Walsh Cup/Shield Top Scorers
Joe Bergin (Offaly) 1-24 (27)
Brendan Murtagh (Westmeath) 3-16 (25)
Joe Canning (Galway) 2-16 (22)
John Power (Kilkenny) 1-17 (20)
Willie Hyland (Laois) 0-18 (18)
Conor Cooney (Galway) 2-10 (16)
Kehoe Cup/Shield (Overall)
* Highest Winning Margin: 15 points (GMIT 2-17 Roscommon 0-8)
* Lowest Winning Margin: 1 point (GMIT 1-17 Kildare 1-16 AET)
* Highest Aggregate Score: 50 points (St Patrick’s Drumcondra 5-16 Meath 1-16)
* Lowest Aggregate Score: 26 points (Fingal 1-12 Louth 1-8)
* Average Score: 36.18 points per game.
COMING NEXT:
TBC: Bord na Móna Kehoe Shield Final: Fingal v Armagh, Dublin Venue.
February 12th: Bord na Móna Walsh Cup Final: Galway v Kilkenny; Bord na Móna Kehoe Cup Final ? St Pat?s Drumcondra v GMIT, TBC
February 17th: Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup Final: Kildare v DCU, O’Moore Park, Portlaoise, 7.30pm.
Bord na Móna Leinster GAA Series 2012 – FOOTBALL
(Dates subject to change)
Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup
January 8: First Round: Meath 1-13 Wexford 1-10; Louth W/O Kilkenny SCR; DCU Wicklow; Longford AIT; Kildare 2-11 DIT 0-9; Offaly 3-6 Westmeath 0-7; Dublin 0-17 Carlow 0-10; UCD 0-15 Laois 0-11.
January 14: Quarter-Final: Dublin 4-14 UCD 0-12.
January 15: Quarter-Finals: Meath 0-11 Louth 0-5; DCU 2-11 Longford 0-12; Kildare 0-17 Offaly 0-4.
January 21: Semi-final: DCU 2-8 Meath 0-6.
January 22: Semi-Final: Kildare 1-11 Dublin 0-8.
TBC: Final: Kildare v DCU
Bord na Móna O’Byrne Shield
January 15: Quarter-Finals: Wicklow 2-16 Athlone IT 1-10; DIT 0-16 Westmeath 0-13; Laois 1-14 Carlow 1-7.
January 22: Semi-finals: Wexford 1-15 Wicklow 0-17 (AET); Laois 0-15 DIT 0-7.
January 29: Final: Laois 1-15 Wexford 1-6
Bord na Móna Leinster GAA Series 2012 – HURLING
Bord na Móna Walsh Cup
January 20: First Round: UCD 2-13 Carlow 0-11.
January 21: First Round: Laois 3-13 DIT 2-14 (AET); NUI Galway 1-11 Wexford 0-13.
January 22: Quarter-Final: Westmeath 2-13 Offaly 0-12.
January 29: Quarter-Finals: Galway 6-25 UCD 1-8; Kilkenny 0-13 NUI Galway 0-12; Laois 2-14 Dublin 1-14.
February 5: Semi-Finals: Galway 2-19 Laois 0-11; Kilkenny 1-23 Westmeath 1-16.
Next Sunday: Final: Galway v Kilkenny
Bord na Móna Walsh Shield
January 29: Semi-Finals: DIT 1-15 Carlow 0-15; Offaly 2-18 Wexford 1-15.
February 5: Final: Offaly 0-22 DIT 1-14 (AET)
Bord na Móna Kehoe Cup
January 21: First Round: GMIT 2-17 Roscommon 0-8.
January 22: First Round: St Patrick?s Drumcondra 2-14 Louth 0-10; DCU 2-22 Fingal 2-10; Trinity College 2-17 Armagh 3-8.
January 28: Quarter-Final GMIT 1-16 Kildare 1-15 (AET)
January 29: Quarter-Finals: St Pat?s Drumcondra 3-11 Wicklow 2-9; Trinity College 2-15 Down 0-14; Meath 1-17 DCU 1-9.
February 3: Semi-Final: GMIT 2-21 Trinity College 2-19 (AET)
February 5: Semi-Final: St Pats, Drumcondra 5-16 Meath 1-16.
Next Sunday: Final: GMIT v St Pats, Drumcondra, TBC
Bord na Móna Kehoe Shield
January 29: Semi-Final: Fingal 1-12 Louth 1-8
Next Sunday: Semi-Final: Armagh 4-9 Roscommon 3-6
TBC: Final: Fingal v Armagh, Dublin Venue