It was a busy day yesterday on the Championship front for St. Senan’s Kilkee as our Junior A’s faced off with Kilmurry Ibrickane in the Kilrush Cricket grounds.
This was the 1st of both sides’ group games and Kilkee started out facing into a moderate breeze. While both sides took their time to suss one another out, Kilkee were the first to the scoreboard with a point from Dylan Russell who settled the nerves on 5 minutes. Calmly slotting over from a free….
3 minutes later Gearoid Lynch made a typical contribution by slamming a goal into the left hand side, side netting, leaving Peter O’Dwyer, the Kilmurry net minder with absolutely no chance. The scoreline stood at 1-01 to nil, 8 minutes in…
On the 10 minute mark, Gearoid Lynch became involved in some smashing link up play with Noel O’Shea. Both combined in a well educated move to cut the Kilmurry midfield/half forward line in two. Breaking through, Gearoid kicked a looping ball to the awaiting Dylan Russell who cleverly called his mark and took his point! On the 1st half water break, the scoreline stood at 1-02 to 0-01.
After the water break, Kilkee took charge again and looked to be the more dominant force. Although they did have 2 missed opportunities. Dylan Russell kicked wide from a set piece. And in the other miss, Rob Daly overlapped Noel O’Shea to give a clinical ball into the dangerous hands of Gearoid Lynch, only for him to knock the ball narrowly wide, under immense pressure from the Kilmurry fullback line…
Following this, Kilmurry upped a gear and came at Kilkee hard. Only for the physical presence of Conor King at fullback, having cleared many opportunities, were Kilkee lucky to escape an execution…
Rob Daly on the right hand side also working his socks off giving a true demonstration of how offensive and defensive play should be played… He became involved in another link up with Noel O’Shea, overlapping and running into space, receiving the return ball at full pace, only to provide an inch perfect pass to the young ‘man mountain’ of Jack McNamara who grabbed the ball from the air. With plenty of work left to do, Jack smashed the ball into the back of the net!
Luckily for Kilkee, Kilmurry only came away with an additional 2 points on the bounce, in the 1st half. For the inspiring Conor King, Alex Muldoon, Daragh O’Shea, Diarmuid Keane, Brian Clancy and Ronan Browne who all battled hard defensively, it could have looked differently marching in at half time.
The 2nd half started 2-02 to 0-03. Again we’d have to wait another 5 mins before a score came, which was in favour of Kilkee. Noel O’ Shea ,who was picking up all of the loose ball, was fouled on the 45 yard line. Dylan Russell then stepped up and slotted over his 3rd point and later scored a 4th to add to his tally!
Right after this Kilmurry made an effort to bring the game to Kilkee. An attempted point by Kilmurry, on the 45, dropped short and fast onto the Kilkee goal mouth. The ball was grabbed in the air by the awaiting Conor King to relieve any scramble. Kilmurry came back once more with another chance that deflected for a 45. They then capitalised with a point from the 45 and then another from play, only for Kilkee to be relieved of the 2nd half water break where the scoreline stood at 2-03 to 0-05….
The final quarter had arrived and Kilkee looked content. Micheal Keane and Cillian Lardner were swapped in for Noel O Shea and Brian Clancy, who were most likely happy with the opportunity to rest, considering their formidable contribution.
A stand out moment in the final 15 minutes was Dylan Russells Goal, due to how the ball was worked from start to finish. Micheal Keane, broke up a high ball that he’d minimal chance of winning. Then calmly played the ball off to Ciaran Woods in the centre. Ciaran, who was aware of his options, coolly placed the ball in front of the full paced Conor Deloughery down the left. Conor, under immense pressure and charging towards goal, clearly put his body on the line and played a peach of a ball to Dylan Russell who capped off his day with a goal, scoring 1-05 in total. It was killer instinct at it’s finest by all 4 individuals!
To top it off, Gavin Melican slotted over a well deserved point to give a thumbs up for his performance, having been a stalwart throughout the day…
All in, Kilkee were comfortable winners with a scoreline of 3-06 to 0-07. It was a fantastic team performance with spells of top class footballing ability displayed. Con O’Brien and Peter Muldoon have gelled this team which was showcased in abundance during this performance. It’s a great start for the boys in Blues!