Harps Hurlers fall to opening day defeat

Sunday March 1st 2026

Dublin Adult Hurling League Division 4

St Peregrine's 3-18 (27)

Skerries Harps 3-13 (22)

Skerries Harps fell to a disappointing opening day defeat in DCU, losing out to St Peregrine's by five points.

An entertaining, high-scoring contest, goals at key moments proved decisive as Peregrine's held the Harps off to claim the spoils at St Clare's.

The match had started brightly for Skerries, with David Graham opening the scoring inside the first minute. The Blanchardstown town side responded quickly, though, with a defensive mix-up leading to a speculative effort ending in the back of the Harps net.

Playing into a stiff breeze, Harps settled well after that and points from Sean Graham, Jack Drumm, Niall Connolly, and Rob Kenny kept the sides close early on.

Mid-way through the half Peregrine's struck for their second goal to stretch their lead further but, again the Skerries response was positive with some excellent movement leading to a number of points from play and placed balls from the Graham brothers, Simon Connolly and Niall Connolly.

Tails up, the seasiders further reduced the margin when full forward Aidan Kehoe pressurised the opposition full back and goalkeeper and forced the ball over the line. However, this was soon undone as Peregrines responded with a strong finish to the half, hitting a series of points to leave the interval score 2-10 to 1-8 in their favour.

Having battled and scored well in the opening half, Skerries were unable to impose themselves in the third quarter, despite the wind advantage.

Afforded space, Peregrine's continued to tick over on the scoreboard, extending their lead before Skerries were given an opportunity to get right back in the game when awarded a penalty. 2025 Player of the Year Sean Graham duly converted and an impressive point from half time substitute Daire Geoghegan reduced the gap further.

Skerries were then dealt a suckerpunch as some slack closing down of opposition players in the middle third allowed Peregrine's to create an overlap for their corner forward to smash a third goal to the Harps net.

To their credit, Skerries continued to battle and points from both Graham brothers and Cian Coleman kept the scoreboard moving. A second goal for Graham, this one from a free, gave some respectability to the scoreline but Peregrines finished resolutely to see out the game out to claim the win.

Skerries Harps scorers:

Sean Graham 2-6, Aidan Kehoe 1-0, David Graham 0-2, Rob Kenny 0-1, Jack Drumm 0-1, Niall Connolly 0-1, Daire Geoghegan 0-1, Cian Coleman 0-1.

Photo Credit: Lorraine O'Connor