Nally’s Cille’s through to provincial club decider
THE season just goes from strength to strength for St Colmcille’s after the seasiders scaled further heights in their amazing year following this Leinster Club IFC semi-final win in Kildare town last Saturday.
The Cille’s will now attempt to emulate last year’s champions Ratoath when they take on the Westmeath standard-bearers Rosemount in the provincial decider the weekend after next at Pairc Tailteann.
With home advantage and an impressive win away to O’Dempsey’s of Laois, the Kildare champions - managed by former county star Glenn Ryan - were well fancied to advance, but they came up against a Colmcille’s outfit equipped with all the attributes to compete successfully at this level.
Cille’s led for most of the way but fell behind at a crucial stage in the final quarter. And it was at that stage that they demonstrated real grit and character to score the last three points of the game.
That determination and a neversay-die attitude were the hallmarks of this win, which was achieved without their influential captain Ben Brennan who failed to recover sufficiently from the injury sustained in the quarter-final victory over Arklow Geraldines.
However, Colm Nally’s charges welcomed back Niall Ronan and he was again a central figure, especially in the crucial closing stages when cool heads were needed to keep the lead intact.
The hosts enjoyed an abundance of possession throughout, but their finishing let them down badly and they tallied 12 wides, eight of which came in the opening half. Their shooting was wayward at times, while credit must also go to the Cille’s rearguard for their hassling and harrying throughout.
The Meath men were much more economical with their finishing and relied a lot on the counter-attack as they attempted to crowd out the midfield sector and also keep it tight in defence.
At times James Conlon ploughed a lone furrow in attack, but even with two or three men around him he managed to keep the Round Towers defence busy.
Round Towers hit two wides before Conlon opened the scoring at the other end with a fisted point following a pass from Graham Reilly.
The Cille’s defence came under strong pressure early on, but they dealt superbly with it and Adam Lynch in particular made some great blocks.
A foul on Jack Reynolds after five minutes resulted in a Cille’s penalty, and while keeper James Robinson managed to block Reynolds’ spot-kick the corner forward reacted quickest to drive the loose ball to the net. That goal helped set up Cille’s for the remainder of the half and at the break they led 1-3 to 0-4.
It was full back and captain Mikey Kelly who had the home side off the mark on eight minutes and by the 19th minute they had closed the deficit to the minimum following a brace of points from Neil Scanlon.
In that same period Cille’s missed a few chances to add to their tally, before Ciaran Kelly ended a 15-minute spell without a score when converting a free following a foul on himself. Full forward Stuart Murphy brought it back to a single-point game from a free on 25 minutes, but Graham Reilly cancelled that out with a fine score from long range to give his side a two-point lead at the break.
Within two minutes of the second half Round Towers had taken their tally of wides to 10 and crucially it was St Colmcille’s who notched the opening two scores of the second half. First, Ciaran Kelly pointed a free and then James Conlon shot over from a quickly taken Graham Reilly free on 38 minutes.
Earlier, Jordan Brown made a terrific save to keep out a goalbound effort from Matthew Kelly. The sides then swapped points, with Neil Scanlon on target for the home side and Niall Ronan replying at the other end following a surge from wing back Eoin Woods.
The goal that Round Towers threatened finally arrived when Stuart Murphy finished to the net after good work by Mark Waters on 42 minutes. That left a single point between the sides, and with momentum behind them wing back Stephen Comerford levelled matters on 44 minutes.
The Cille’s were facing an uphill battle at that stage and they went behind for the first and only time when opening-half substitute Jason O’Brien split the posts on 48 minutes. It was beginning to look grim for the Meath champions, but a Ciaran Kelly equaliser from a free settled them and it also helped put a halt to Round Towers’ impetus.
Cille’s were back in front when Reilly ran onto a peach of a pass from Conlon to shoot an inspirational score. Then Eoin Woods epitomised Cille’s fighting spirit by surging forward before putting the ball between the posts to leave his side two clear.
There was still plenty of work for Cille’s to do before before they achieved a historic win and they introduced a number of fresh legs which helped them preserve their lead.
ST COLMCILLE’S: Jordan Brown; Adam Lynch, Jamie McDonnell, Ciaran Ward; Eoin Woods 0-1, Ian Mullen, Joe Sweeney; Niall Ronan 0-1, Robbie McCloskey; Ciaran Kelly 0-3f, David Sheeran, David O’Byrne; Jack Reynolds 1-0, Graham Reilly 0-2, James Conlon 0-2. Subs: Jeff Kavanagh for Lynch (36), Ruairi O’Grady for Reynolds (43), Conor O’Byrne for David O’Byrne (51), John McKenna for McDonnell, Sean Collier for Kelly, Daragh Brodigan for Mullen (all 55). ROUND TOWERS: James Robinson; Davy O’Neill, Mikey Kelly 0-1, Michael Joyce; Mark Scanlon, Niall Fleming, Stephen Comerford 0-1; Mark Waters, Jamie Flynn; Mark Byrne, Jason Dunne, Barry Watters; Matthew Kelly, Stuart Murphy 1-1 (0-1f), Neil Scanlon 0-3. Subs: Jason O’Brien 0-1 for Byrne (26), Dean Houlihan for Dunne (h-t), Aaron McConville for Matthew Kelly (47), Cathal Daffy for B Watters (55), DJ Flynn for N Scanlon (56). REF: Barry Tiernan (Dublin)