IT WILL be wren boys or the lack of them on December 26 but regardless of the turnout or otherwise of the traditional mummers after Christmas Day, the Saturday just past was undisputedly Stephen’s Day.
Occasion was the meeting of James Stephens and Mullinavat senior hurlers in the final of the Kilkenny Shield.
It was hardly an auspicious occasion for either club but it will be remembered as a hard fought encounter in which the Village boys asserted their authority for the most part and brought home the bacon.
On a score of 2-21 to 1-15 the Larchfield Club proved too good.
And while hairy bacon is hairy bacon, the achievement is still colloquial miles away from the Holy Grail that is the county senior hurling championship crown.
That said, both clubs will contest county quarter-finals shortly and, naturally, both will have ambitions of going all the way to glory.
Meanwhile, teams experiencing contrasting fortunes, O’Loughlin Gaels and the Rower Inistioge did battle in the league and the result was a resounding 3-25 to 0-21 victory for the Gaels who, no pun intended, blew away the somewhat timid, yet earnest, efforts of the boys from Eddie Keher country.
The Gaels will now be looking forward to their county final clash while the Rower Inistioge will be digging deep in an effort to avoid relegation to the intermediate grade.
