Everything you need to know about St Lachtain's, Russell Rovers' All-Ireland final opponents
Kilkenny's James Maher shakes hands with Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash after the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Final in 2019. Picture: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
This weekend – two of Cork’s three All-Ireland finalists are in action, and for Premier Junior champions Russell Rovers, they’ll face off against Kilkenny’s St Lachtain’s.
The Freshford based club won two Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championships back in the 1960s, and while senior success is now a distant memory, the club were actually crowned All-Ireland Intermediate Club Hurling Championship winners in 2010.
Their defeat of Antrim side St Gall’s in the final followed a 2009 county campaign where St Lachtain’s won the Kilkenny Intermediate HC title.
In the years since though, the club have been starved of success, with their junior triumph in 2024 marking the end of a 15-year wait for Kilkenny glory, be it junior or intermediate. They did come close in 2023 – but were beaten by Tullogher-Rosbercon.
When the rest of the Kilkenny Premier Junior HC was getting underway - St Lachtain’s had to wait, as they contested their league final with Windgap.
The Freshford side suffered a nine-point defeat, a disappointing one for the team.
However, the straight knockout format of the Kilkenny championship and the fact that Lachtain’s had already made it to the league final ensured that both league finalists would receive a bye straight to the Section A quarter-finals.
That meant that their championship campaign got underway a month later than everyone else, but it didn’t matter.
They defeated Galmoy on a scoreline of 4-14 to 1-19 to kick start their season, before comfortably beating James Stephens’ in the semi-final, 0-27 to 1-14.
From there, only one fixture remained – a repeat of the league final with Windgap.
This time there would be no mistake, with Lachtain’s winning it by six to march on to Leinster.
Freshford’s James Maher starred in the final and semi-final, scoring a combined eight points from play.
Maher’s impressive performances earned him a call up to the Kilkenny senior setup in 2016, but since recovering from a broken leg he’s struggled to reach the same highs.
Barring goalkeeper Darren Brennan, who was previously Kilkenny’s number 16 before being replaced by Lisdowney’s Aidan Tallis, the club’s senior representation has been few and far between.
Ib both the senior and U20 Kilkenny teams, Freshford have no inter-county representatives, with minor hurler Cian Donnelly the only St Lachtain’s player to don the black and amber of Kilkenny in 2024.
Following their county success, Lachtain’s faced Offaly’s Drumcullen in round 1 of the Leinster championship, another game they won with ease – 2-23 to 1-17.
A 5-20 to 1-7 thumping of Crumlin saw Freshford put up 10 different scorers to ensure their place in the semi-final, where they made light work of Avondale, winning 4-18 to 0-11.
Their toughest challenge came against Wexford’s Liam Mellows, but the Kilkenny side got over the line by the minimum as substitute Cian Dawson’s late goal put Lachtain’s back in front having previously been down by four points.
That set up an All-Ireland semi-final with Sligo outfit Easkey – who were another name in a long list of teams who proved to be no match for the Kilkenny champions.
On that occasion, it was Darragh Maher and Cathal O’Leary who stood out – with Lachtain’s displaying their wide range of attacking threat once again.
Russell Rovers will have their work cut out – but it should be a captivating final for two teams who had relatively comfortable provincial runs. Either side is capable of coming away with the All-Ireland title.
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