Gorey coast home
NAOMH EANNA KILANERIN 3-15 1-5
NAOMH ÉANNA fired themselves into the last four of the Joyces Expert Intermediate ‘A’ football championship with a comprehensive quarter-final victory over Kilanerin in Bellefied on Friday.
Playing a confident and energetic brand of football, the Gorey town men were by far the better side throughout.
And while there will be stiffer opposition to face, they looked unstoppable at times as they moved the ball at lightning pace, supporting each other and picking off some impressive scores along the way.
The game got off to a relatively slow start, with the eventual winners a point up with twelve minutes gone (0-2 to 0-1).
But, 30 seconds after their second point, Conor McDonald showed he has an eye for the posts with the big ball too as he finished with aplomb, hitting the top corner of the net after racing in from midfield.
From here Naomh Éanna never looked back, closing out the half with six more scores from Jack Cullen, Charlie McGuckin, Seán Doyle, David O’Brien and McDonald, all the while limiting Kilanerin to one more point from Lee Owley, leaving nine in it at the break.
Kilanerin tried courageously to turn things around when the sides resumed play and looked to be doing a reasonably good job when Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin hit the net six minutes in, and a minor was added by Edward Hughes.
But, that was as good as it got for them as the eventual winners dashed all hopes with a goal midway through the half from the busy Peter Travers, leaving the task at hand insurmountable.
It was now just a matter of seeing out the allotted time for the Gorey town side, but they hit a number of impressive scores before the end, with a brace of beauties from William Cullen and a superbly-taken goal from Gary Molloy to march on convincingly to the last four.
Naomh Éanna: Barry Kinsella; Joseph O’Connor, Daniel Sunderland, Seamus O’Donnell; Jack Cullen (0-2), Pádraig Doyle, Aodhán Doyle; Conor McDonald (1-2), John O’Brien; Seán Doyle (0-1), Peter Travers (1-1), Charlie McGuckin (0-2); William Cullen (0-2), Lee Kinsella (0-1), David O’Brien (0-2 frees). Subs. - Jack Cushe for A. Doyle (HT), Gary Molloy (1-0) for P. Doyle (35), Cathal Dunbar for McGuckin (41), Eoin Conroy (0-1) for McDonald (47).
Kilanerin: Eoin Ó Luasaigh; Edward Hughes (0-1), Brian Hughes, Lorcan Clare; Cathal O’Reilly, Stephen Hughes, Seán Bardon; Niall Gethings, Patrick Fortune; Colm Noctor, Jim Hughes, Stephen Neville (0-1); Lee Owley (0-3), Liam Carroll, Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin (1-0). Subs. - Danny Howard for Bardon (HT), Donnacha McDonald for E. Hughes (45), Dylan Smith for O’Reilly (50), Pat O’Connor for Noctor (50), Andrew Murphy for Carroll (53).
Referee: John Carton (Monageer-Boolavogue).