Kenny shines for Tinahely

Super second-half show

TINAHELY KNOCKANANNA 4-11 1-6

HAVING already drawn in Tinahely on Thursday night in the Junior ‘B’ football championship, Knockananna and Tinahely resumed their opposition when they lined out 24 hours later, this time in well-appointed Knockananna, in the Junior ‘C’ football championship. Both sides had panels of over 20 players and Diarmuid Haughian threw in the ball bang on the appointed time.

The visitors made the livelier start with Bill Kavanagh and Conor Kenny prominent at midfield and pushing their side forward. Adam Cullen opened the Tinahely account after three minutes with a point from play.

One minute later they went four ahead when Gavin Kenny and Stuart Gilbert reacted quickly to a breaking ball in the Knockananna goalmouth for Gilbert to finish to the net.

The home side began to get their act together and move the ball into Tinahely territory. Eddie Bracken and Darragh Whelan and centre forward Joe Byrne began to get on more ball and launch their side into attack.

Byrne may not have been a paciest of players but he had a powerful left foot and launched a number of well-placed long balls into the full forward line.

Tom Roche pointed and when the same player found the net after eight minutes Knockananna were back level.

They had a narrow escape around the 10th minute when a goal bound shot from Gavin Kenny was brilliantly turned outside the post by custodian Tom Whelan.

Conor Kenny put Tinahely back ahead with a point but Joe Byrne levelled with a great left footed kick from the left wing. He had been narrowly wide with a similar effort a minute earlier.

The game was scoreless for almost ten minutes until Tinahely corner-forward Sean Pollard got through for his sides’ second goal. Tom Roche collected another pass from Joe Byrne and levelled the game again.

Bill Kavanagh was enjoying a lot of possession in the midfield for Tinahely and was very much a playmaker; spreading passes all around the place. His midfield colleague Conor Kenny put the Tinahely men a goal ahead with a point and Gavin Kenny quickly added another.

Just before the half-time break Tom Roche cut in from the left and had his effort for a goal touched over by goalkeeper Damien Darcy to leave the half-time score standing at 2-4 to 1-4.

We were not to know it then but Knockananna had shot their bolt at this stage and were not to score again until substitute Dan Myers pointed after 20 minutes.

Joe Byrne finished their scoring with a point from a free five minutes later.

The second half for Tinahely was very much the Conor Kenny show. The midfielder scored two goals from two penalties and added four points to the two he had scored in the first half to finish with a personal tally of 2-6.

Gavin Kenny, Thomas Hayden and Brendan Barnes also contributed points to leave their final tally at 4-11.

While the result was obvious from midway through the second period, Knockananna never threw in the towel and battled all the way to the end.

Dan Myers caught the eye with a couple of spectacular midfield catches. Brian Lawrence put up a stern defence (sometimes very stern) and continued to play all the way.

The final score stood at 4-11 to 1-6 in favour of Tinahely. It should be noted that for Knockananna this was their second team while Tinahely were fielding a third team.

Both clubs should be complemented on the success of getting everybody out and on the manner in which the game was played.