Haven Hire Hurling Championships Launch
The Haven Hire Adult Championships were launched on Friday, June 15 th . This is the second year of
Kildare GAA’s sponsorship deal with Haven Hire, which is seeing the Haven Hire brand become
synonymous with the small ball game in the county.
The Junior Championship sees ten teams divided into two groups. Group B consists of: Naas (3), Éire
Óg Corra Choill (2), Sallins, Clane (2) and Kill. Group B consists of: Broadford, Maynooth (2) Ros Glas,
Kilcock and Sarsfields. On first glance, Group A looks like the tougher draw, with 2017 Champions
Éire Óg Corra Choill, as well as 2018 Haven Hire Junior League Finalists, Sallins and Naas. These
matches will be played on a ‘round robin’ format, on Friday evenings over the summer.
The Intermediate Championship runs on the same format as the Senior, eight teams playing a
preliminary round and then are divided into Winner and Loser groups. The draw was as follows
Naas (2) v Moorefield
Maynooth v St. Laurence’s
Ardclough (2) v Celbridge (2)
Coill Dubh (2) v St Columba
The stand out tie of the round would appear to be the local derby between Ardclough and Celbridge,
a late free in the Haven Hire Intermediate League semi final was all that separated them earlier this
year.
The Senior Championship has thrown up some very interesting pairings in the quest for the Tony
Carew Cup.
Ardclough v Coill Dubh
Celbridge v Confey
Clane v Naas
Éíre Óg Corra Choill v Leixlip
The game between defending champions Ardclough and Coill Dubh looks to be a mouth watering tie.
No doubt both teams will go hammer and tongs to book their spot in the Winners’ Group. Last year’s
surprise package Clane have the ominous draw against Naas, although given their performances last
year, Clane could provide us with yet another shock. Éire Óg Corra Choill v Leixlip would appear to
some to favour the side from Donore, but a lot of hard work has gone on in the North of the county,
this one is too close to call for now. Celbridge and Confey were both beaten in last year’s semi-finals,
no doubt both will be looking to go one step further than last year.
Audrey and Eamon Kilgallon of Haven Hire
Speaking at the launch, Ger Donnelly Chairman of Kildare County Board said that this is a very exciting time for hurling in Kildare with our Senior team in the Christy Ring Final on Sat 23rd in Croke Park and I extend our best wishes and look forward to them bringing home the cup. Our Minor Hurlers played Wexford in the Leinster Championship in St Conleth’s Park and will now play Carlow in their Shield Semi Final, I want to wish them all the best.
The club championship will begin in earnest next month and I have no doubt we will be treated to some very competitive and exciting games as all the teams will be doing there utmost to win their respective competitions. We are delighted to have Haven Hire on board as the sponsor of our club hurling championships and I want to thank Eamon and Audrey Kilgallon and all the team at Haven Hire and I wish them continued success. This is their second year as the sponsor of our hurling competitions and we are very grateful for their support and we look forward to working with them through out the year.
