Lacken-Kilbride prove too strong for Balto
PHILIP DOYLE JUNIOR ‘B’ FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
LACKEN-KILBRIDE BALTINGLASS 2-10 0-10
LACKEN-KILBRIDE took the spoils in the opening round of the Philip Doyle Junior B football championship with a hard-earned win over a spirited Baltinglass side last Friday evening.
Noel Kinsella’s charges will be looking to make a quick return back up the ranks. They dominated the early exchanges and built up a nice cushion in the opening quarter, which proved to be the difference between the sides at the finish.
John Gillespie’s side rallied well in the second half but could not harvest that badly needed goal to get Baltinglass back within reach of their opponents, in ideal conditions for football.
Richard Ward got the scoring up and running in the second minute with a well-executed point, this was duly doubled up after a good passage of play, with Timmy Broe splitting the uprights. Lacken-Kilbride were in flying form, a man running of the shoulder every time was tearing holes through the Baltinglass rearguard.
The first major of the evening soon followed after great play by Charlie Clarke who put Richard Ward through on goal to fire past the onrushing Robert Brien; a dream start with four minutes on the clock. Further points from Simon Phibbs and Eoin Keogh were registered onto the scoreboard as Baltinglass could not find any rhythm.
Jamie McTiernan slowed down the Lacken-Kilbride dominance around the midfield sector when he won a mark and found Willie Langrell with a well-placed pass, Langrell was fouled going through, Paudie Swinbourne pointed the resultant free to break the drought and get Baltinglass off the mark in the 14th minute.
Michael Byrne rifled over a beast of a point just before the water break, to leave the score 0-1 to 1-5 at the end of the first quarter.
The home side suffered a huge loss when the lost the services of their dead-ball specialist Paudie Swinbourne through an earlier knock in the game. Baltinglass’ third string side were now short an experienced leader in attack.
Another hammerblow soon followed for the home side - a sweeping move up the field initiated by Martin Donohoe who found the impressive Timmy Broe who laid off to full-forward David Balfe to sweetly fire home the second major of the evening in the 20th minute.
Simon Phibbs was sweeping up a lot of dirty ball around the midfield area throughout the early exchanges. Baltinglass slowly began to find some form - Willie Brien made a great break up the field and was stopped in his tracks illegally, however a wayward shot from the resultant free went glaringly wide.
Jamie McTiernan was now winning plenty of possession and putting great ball into his forward-line. Ross Nolan landed two sublime points on the bounce for the home side after great work by both Paddy Lord and Sean Parke.
Midfielder Jamie McTiernan harvested another beast of a point to eat into the deficit as Baltinglass found some momentum.
On the stroke of half-time, the lively Timmy Broe cut clean through for what looked a certain goal, but somehow a last-ditch flying block by John Timmins diverted the ball over the crossbar as the half-time score read 0-4 to 1-6.
Baltinglass introduced a couple of fresh legs on the restart. Fullback Alan Nolan, now on free-taking duty, landed the opening score from a free after a heavy tackle on Willie Brien by Simon Phibbs who picked up a yellow card for his troubles.
Indeed, moments later Phibbs escaped what looked potentially another yellow, for a robust tackle on Jack Hanlon.
Brian Nolan was winning lots of possession now and started rampaging up and down the field for Baltinglass. Conor Flood tagged on another point after a strong run down the field by Kevin Wall.
A brace of pointed frees from David Balfe kept Lacken-Kilbride restored a slight cushion. Baltinglass had a number of point chances, but could not add to their tally. These misses were punished with another brace of white flags from Tom McKeon and wing back Jordan Balfe, which turned out to be Lacken-Kilbride’s final scores of the battle after 52 minutes on the clock.
Eddie Gorman bombed over a monster of a score from 50 odd meters, as Baltinglass rallied again. Alan Nolan tagged on another pair of pointed frees before the final whistled sounded to close out proceedings.
Baltinglass had good showings from Jamie McTiernan, Alan Nolan and Brian Nolan while David Balfe, Timmy Broe and Charlie Clarke led the way for the victors.