Don does the business for Coolkenno
Four-goal haul for Jackman
KILMACANOGUE COOLKENNO
A word of warning to all Division 1A teams yet to face the men from Coolkenno: Do not, under any circumstances, suggest that Damien McMahon’s men are getting tired as the game enters the final third, regardless of how well things are looking for ye.
‘They’re getting tired, lads’, bellowed Kilmac’s Simon Doyle to his colleagues after Sam O’Callaghan had fired over their third point of the second half to bring them level with the Coolkenno men under the protective shadow of the Sugarloaf.
You wouldn’t have disagreed with the Kilmac half-forward. The home team had recovered superbly from Coolkenno’s blistering start where McMahon’s men grabbed an early 2-01 thanks to goals from Pauric Coleman Murray and Don Jackman, from the penalty spot. They took to the half-time break trailing by three after some superb scoring from the likes of Simon Doyle, Niall Meldon and Connor Finn.
Within six minutes of the second half, Kilmac were level through Meldon, off his right, Simon Doyle and a superb score from full-forward Sam O’Callaghan. They were overturning Coolkenno and moving the ball swiftly through the hands, and they were playing with energy and endeavour.
But Simon Doyle woke the Coolkenno beast. Paddy Dalton was the most offended player on the field. James Gregan replied to O’Callaghan’s screamer with a class score of his own on the gallop after an exchange with Eamon Rossiter. After Gregan’s bomb, Dalton let a roar of his own, asking all and sundry if Coolkenno were tired now.
Conor Doyle found Eamon Rossiter who rampaged down on the Kilmac goal before slipping a dinky ball over the top to target man Don Jackman and the ball was in the back of the Kilmac net and the sound of Paddy Dalton’s voice echoed around Páirc Fitzsimons as he again pondered whether Coolkenno were tired now or not.
Kilmac were stunned now. The flow of the game had completely reversed. Coolkenno were winning almost everything around the middle. Dalton was inspired. Repeatedly he urged his comrades to not let their efforts drop.
Back came Coolkenno. Dalton won a ball out on the Sugarloaf sideline, he fed John Gregan who thumped in a high ball on top of Jackman. Up went the fist of doom and the ball was in the bottom corner of Niall King’s net. 4-05 to 0-10, 10 minutes gone in the second half and the only sound you could hear on a still February evening was Paddy Dalton asking if Coolkenno were tired now.
Damien McMahon sent in Cormac Byrne in place of the busy David Tompkins. Byrne certainly impressed, bagging two points during his spell on the pitch.
The energetic John Kavanagh fired over a lovely score and Eamon Rossiter added another after excellent work from Paddy Dalton before John Kavanagh grabbed his first.
Kilmac’s Andrew Molloy stopped the rot with a fine point and Niall Meldon drilled over a 45 with impressive ease, 16 gone in the second half, Coolkenno leading by 4-08 to 12.
Kavanagh notched his second soon after before Meldon replied from a free, 4-10 to 0-12.
And then things went pearshaped for Kilmac. Both sidelines were less than impressed with Eddie Leonard on the day, but within a matter of moments Kilmac were down to 13 players after Simon Doyle and Micheal Masterson both collected second yellows for lip and throwing the ball away. Gone with the two lads was any chance of a dramatic Kilmac recovery, but credit to the Pairc Fitzsimons outfit, they battled to the last.
However, Don Jackman’s fourth goal of the game, from the fist after a long James Gregan ball, put the game beyond all doubt, and Sam Callaghan’s goal on 58 minutes did little but take the bad look off the scoreboard.
Kilmac finished out strong with two points, Sam O’Callaghan from a goal chance and Conor Finn who drew a fine save from Stephen Donoghue in the Coolkenno goal who pushed it up and over for a point.
A resounding win for Coolkenno. Kilmac will take heart from the fact that they have so many players to welcome back into the fold. They are a young and talented side and some of the points kicked during this game were mouth-watering to say the least.
Their recovery in the first half was impressive. At 2-01 to 0-01 down after nine minutes – Niall Meldon with their opener – we waited to see how this young side would react. They knuckled down and started playing some lovely football. Points from Luke O’Callaghan, Meldon (2), Simon Doyle (2), Conor Finn, and Stephen Flynn brought the home side back to within a point of the visitors. Coolkenno finished strongly with two Eamon Rossiter pointed frees to leave it at 2-04 to 0-07 at the break and all to play for in the second half.
Damien McMahon had urged his players to drop high balls down on Don Jackman in the opening half. They listened in the second. As well as that, Kilmac annoyed Paddy Dalton. The rest as they say is history.
Scorers – Coolkenno: Don Jackman 4-00 (1p), Eamon Rossiter 0-05 (4f), Pauric Coleman Murray 1-00, Cormac Byrne 0-02, David Tompkins 0-01, James Gregan 0-01, John Kavanagh 0-01.
Kilmacanogue: Niall Meldon 0-06 (1f, 1 45), Sam O’Callaghan 1-02, Simon Doyle 0-03, Conor Finn 0-02, Luke O’Callaghan 0-01, Andrew Molloy 0-01.
Niall King; Donal Tuohy, Gavan Burke, Marcus Rafferty; Micheal Masterson, Cian Rafferty, Andrew Molloy; Luke O’Callaghan, Rob Conan; Simon Doyle, Niall Meldon, Ben O’Callaghan; Conor Finn, Sam O’Callaghan, Stephen Flynn. Subs: Gary King for S Flynn (49min).
Stephen Donoghue; Donal Doyle, Robert Keogh, Cathal Rossitter; John Kavanagh, Jim Cushe, Eoghan Dolan; James Gregan, Paddy Dalton; Conor Doyle, Eamon Rossiter, John Gregan; Pauric Coleman, Don Jackman, David Tompkins. Subs: Cormac Byrne for D Tompkins (39min), Niall Bailey for P Coleman (53min), Danny O’Neill for C Doyle (58min), Brian Rossiter for D Jackman (60min, Christopher Doyle for J Gregan (61min).
Eddie Leonard (St Pat’s) ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES welcomed Wexford’s for their opening clash of the Leinster hurling league.
Alas, the Realt na Mara men made their trip up the east coast a successful one when they triumphed over Eamonn Scallan’s side by 1-14 to 0-12 on a cold but sunny Saturday afternoon by the seaside.
Key to the victory was full-forward Jack Hobbs who bagged nine points (six frees, one 65) and might have had more had his radar been fully functioning.
The absence of Éire Óg’s county players was keenly felt by the home side who struggled in periods of this game due to a lack of hurling sharpness.