Kilnamanagh had a huge 5-2 victory over Arklow in the Leinster Senior League. Photos by Leslie Evans

Five-star performance from Kilnamanagh boys

Michael Howley February 4, 2026 4:24 pm

DESPITE adverse weather conditions the Leinster Senior League saw an action packed weekend with several high profile contests taking place over the bank holiday.

John O’Donoghue was the man of the hour for Kilnamanagh with the player managing a hattrick as well as two assists in an absolute 5-2 thumping against Arklow in the Senior One Division.

O’Donoghue opened up the scoring in the 25th minute before doubling the lead in the 33rd, Darragh Deegan would add on further to give Kilnamanagh a 3-0 lead going into half time.

Arklow would pull one back in the 53rd minute with a goal from Marcel Kasparek however Karl Chambers would make the score 4-1 just 15 minutes later.

O’Donoghue would get his final goal of the day in the 75th minute to seal the deal and while Arklow did net again through Oscar Malcolmson, the result was confirmed.

The win sees Kilnamanagh now in fourth place in Senior Division 1 as they make a push to challenge the top three of Crumlin, Montpelier and Glebe North.

Sacred Heart picked up a valuable three points against bottom placed Liffey Wanderers after a hard fought 2-1 victory at home on Friday night.

Lee McEvoy put Sacred Heart 1-0 up in the 37th minute with an excellent header, getting on the end of a cross from Joey Reynolds.

Liffey would come back with pressure however and would eventually break the Sacred Heart defence in the second half with a goal from Sean McMahon in the 65th minute.

In torrential conditions and in a game that seemed destined to be a draw, McEvoy would pop up once again to score his second of the game in the 94th minute to seal the deal for Sacred Heart and pick up a huge win.

The win sees them now in tenth position in the table as they look to get themselves away from those who are languishing at the bottom of the division.

In the Senior Sunday division Inchicore Athletic continued their good run of form picking up a 2-1 victory as they hosted UCD AFC on Friday evening.

It was a great start for Inchicore as they found themselves 1-0 up following a Darragh Dunne penalty in the 16th minute of the game.

Just before the halftime whistle sounded however they would have the wind knocked from their sails as midfielder Sean Quinn received his second yellow card of the fixture leaving them down to 10 men in horrendous conditions.

Despite being a man down the side did not falter and performed admirably throughout the second half, doubling their lead in the 76th minute through Craig Walsh.

UCD would finally make use of their man advantage in the 92nd minute with Darragh Corcoran scoring but it would be too little too late as Inchicore snapped up all three points.

The win has them in ninth place however they have created a substantial gap between themselves and those lower than them in the table and they now sit just five points behind fourth place side Tolka Rovers, a gap which only highlights how competitive the division is as a whole.

Another game which went ahead on Friday night was between St Francis FC and the aforementioned Tolka Rovers with Francis picking up a big 3-2 win thanks to a Sean O’Mahony-King hattrick.

A brace in the first half followed by another goal in the second saw Francis get the job done. The win sees them in sixth place on 24 points, though notably they have one of the lower numbers of total games played in the league which works in their favour.