Castletown set the tone in championship opener
Kyron Cuddy (Castletown) comes away with this sliotar in their U/20HC win over Abbeyleix Photo: Denis Byrne
CASTLETOWN claimed the first win of this year's U/20 Hurling Championship early on Sunday afternoon when they welcomed the visit of Abbeyleix for the championship opener.
The game was played in miserable conditions as the rain poured out of the heavens for the entirety of the contest and in the build-up, leading to difficult conditions underfoot, but that was of little matter to Castletown who bossed the game from start to finish.
Kyron Cuddy top scored for the victors with a mightily impressive 2-10, although they were excellent all over the field with Ryan Peters and Rory Kelly both fantastic in defence while Tom Óg Phelan carried over his form from the minor final.
The current back-to-back minor champions got off to a quick start with two good scores in as many minutes through Kyron Cuddy and Jack Breen, who was a constant threat from centre forward.
Cormac Byrne fired back for the visitors with a free but he was quickly matched by Tom Óg Phelan with one from his own 65 that and Castletown took a commanding lead in the seventh minute when Tommy Goode played a long ball inside to Cuddy who worked himself a yard of space to get a strike away into the net.
Cuddy added to his tally with a 65 after Phelan saw a shot at goal saved and Evan Gilnagh was called into action again, this time pulling off a brilliant stretched save to deny a second Cuddy goal.
Castletown would get a second just a minute later however through Sean Óg Byrne after he did well to win a long ball in from Phelan and get it over the line, either side of a brace of Cuddy frees to make it 2-6 to 0-1 at 18 minutes.
Abbeyleix's backs were firmly against the wall but they came battling back strongly and Ryan O'Connor was forced to make a good save to deny Dan Jones, but the Abbeyleix forward came back for another attempt moments later and despite O'Connor making another good stop, the visitors raised a green flag.
Cormac Byrne added a point from free before Cuddy ended a nine-minute scoreless run for the hosts with his second goal, Phelan again the provider with a searching ball in from midfield.
The duo saw out the half with a free each for The Village to make it 3-8 to 1-2 at half time.
Conditions worsened at half time as the rain began to drive while the teams had their half time discussions and once they reemerged for the second half, the rate of scoring didn't quite match the first.
The opening 10 minutes of the second half saw a brace of Cuddy frees either side of a reply from Jack O'Dea with a nice effort out on the right wing.
Abbeyleix were getting on the ball more in the second half but they struggled against the Castletown backs who were proving to be impervious and recycled any balls that came in back out the field to the likes of Breen, Phelan and Callum Peters to turn the burners on.
A perfect example of said play was their fourth goal, starting from a well won aerial battle by Ryan Peters who flung it up to his brother Callum and he fed the advancing Breen with a handpass and after breaking a couple of tackles he picked out Phelan inside who lashed it across the net.
Little could be done by Abbeyleix as the half progressed, though Byrne added a pair of scores, though Castletown had the final say with a point from Sean Óg Byrne and a brace from Cuddy to bring a fitting end to an outstanding personal and team performance.
Next up for Castletown is an away game to Ballyfin Mountrath, while Abbeyleix will be hosting Rathdowney-Errill in Round 2.
Kyron Cuddy 2-10 (0-7fs, 0-1 65), Tom Óg Phelan 1-2 (0-2fs), Sean Óg Byrne 1-1, Jack Breen 0-1.
Cormac Byrne 0-4 (0-3fs), Dan Jones 1-0, Jack O'Dea 0-1.
Ryan O'Connor; Oran McKelvey, Rory Kelly, Conor Ryan; Dan Whelan, Ryan Peters, Ciaran Lyons; Tommy Goode, Ray Goode; Tom Óg Phelan, Jack Breen, Killian Breen; Sean Óg Byrne, Callum Peters, Kyron Cuddy.
Ethan Neville for K Breen (46m), Sean Óg Delaney for Lyons (50m), Fionn Cuddy for Whelan (53m), Cian Kirwan for Phelan (57m), John Egan for Byrne (57m).
Evan Gilnagh; Tom O'Keeffe, Liam O'Keeffe, Riain Mahony; Kyle Mullen, Jack Finlay, Sean O'Donnell; Adam Jones, Eli Quinn; Stephen O'Donnell, Cormac Byrne, Joe Cole; Jack O'Dea, Sam Farrell, Dan Jones.
Declan Iguma for Farrell (44m), Cathal Noone for A Jones (52m), Darragh Ryan for O'Dea (55m).
John Lalor (Shanahoe)
