Halley’s HWH show promise
Bunclody’s second big win
HWH-BUNCLODY 2-14 ST. FINTAN’S 1-4
IT’S GOING to be a long time before the next action in the Amber Springs/Ashdown Park Hotels Intermediate football championship, but HWH-Bunclody have certainly gone about their business thus far in the right way.
They returned to St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy, for the second time in less than a week on Thursday and recorded another commanding Group B win, this time by 13 points against St. Fintan’s after brushing aside St. Joseph’s by 21 five days earlier.
And while an adult championship was never won in March/April, maybe, just maybe, this will be the year when HWH-Bunclody make the long-awaited return to the Senior ranks which they vacated in 2008.
Coach Peter Halley, the former Wexford football Games Development Administrator now working in Laois, has his charges in fine fettle, and the writing was on the wall for St. Fintan’s after a mere four minutes when they trailed to two early goals.
Of course, HWH-Bunclody will encounter stronger opposition in their quest for glory than in these two rounds, but they have won pulling up so far without the services of injured county Senior Martin O’Connor, who is the best young prospect in Wexford right now in my humble opinion.
Aidan Nolan, Eoin Kelly and Jamie John Murphy were all involved in a flowing move that ended with Peter Atkinson crashing the ball to the roof of the net from the right with under two and a half minutes gone.
And 50 seconds later Nolan doubled the lead after Kevin Dunne and Kelly created an opening on the left, leaving St. Fintan’s with a struggle on their hands to repeat their first round win over Duffry Rovers.
If Tipperary native Halley is looking for something to keep his players’ feet on the ground, he could use their somewhat sloppy approach to the rest of the opening half when they fixated on going for more goals and gave their rivals a second quarter lifeline.
Jamie John Murphy (free) and captain Seán Kenny had stretched their lead to 2-2 to nil before a rare error saw St. Fintan’s strike for what proved to be their sole score from play in the 17th minute.
Shortly after moving to the ’40, Joey Wadding pumped in a long ball that hopped over fullback Colm Farrell into the path of Conor Sinnott, and the experienced captain’s finish was sublime as he used one of his vast array of finishing tricks to lob netminder Patrick Kavanagh.
Just one of the six first-half points was registered from play as HWH-Bunclody retired with a 2-4 to 1-2 lead, with free-takers Donal Shanley and Jamie John Murphy swapping a brace apiece after Sinnott’s goal.
A strong re-start that yielded points from Aidan Nolan, Eoin Kelly (free) and Peter Atkinson killed off the already slim prospect of a Fintan’s comeback, and they didn’t score again after Shanley converted his fourth free in the 41st minute.
That made it 2-8 to 1-4, and HWH-Bunclody’s ability to break at pace brought them rich rewards in the form of six more points before the finish.
The pick of the bunch came in the 53rd minute when a Shanley free was plucked from under the crossbar, with the flowing move that resulted leading to a sweet score off his left peg from Jamie John Murphy.
HWH-Bunclody: Patrick Kavanagh; Billy Kelly, Colm Farrell, Jamie Kavanagh; Byron Byrne, John Dunne, Ciarán Kavanagh (0-1); Seán Kenny (capt., 0-2), Pádraig Sinnott; Aidan Nolan (1-2), Eoin Kelly (0-3, 2 frees), Cathal Doyle; Jamie John Murphy (04, 3 frees), Kevin Dunne (0-1), Peter Atkinson (1-1). Subs. - Conor Crean for Kenny (56), Josh Martin for Doyle (56).
St. Fintan’s: Patrick McDonnell; Paul Cummins, Eoin Cummins, Shane Sinnott; Robert Coakley, Frank Staples, Peter Goldsmith; Shane Pettit, Eoin O’Callaghan; Adam Devereux, Jason Pettit, Niall Moore; Conor Sinnott (capt., 1-0), Joey Wadding, Donal Shanley (0-4 frees). Subs. - Robbie McGinn for Shanley, temp. (9-12 and 15-17), McGinn for Moore (43), Adrian Murphy for P. Cummins (47), Moore for O’Callaghan (56), Tom Cullen for J. Pettit (59).
Referee: Brendan Holohan (Rathgarogue-Cushinstown).