Kilmore soar into semis
THE BAND of brothers from Kilmore soared into the semi-finals of the Permanent TSB Junior ‘A’ hurling championship with a clinical 2-20 to 0-10 victory over Oulart-The Ballagh’s third string in Bree on Friday.
Indeed, the seasiders were never headed as soon as Tommy Cousins opened the scoring after 32 seconds, with Páraic Reville and Tom White following with quick points during a bright start.
Strangely, Jamie Leacy’s point on 17 minutes to make it 0-7 to 0-5 was the first from play from any of the twelve starting forwards by that stage, but Kilmore quickly addressed that particular anomaly when Aaron Goff found the range one minute later.
Mark Sinnott did likewise soon after, and Goff continued to lay waste to a beleaguered Oulart-The Ballagh defence when setting up White before deftly flicking to the net himself to boost their advantage to 1-11 to 0-6 at the change of ends.
Oulart-The Ballagh had two yellow cards in the first-half for dissent, and their mood didn’t improve in the second period as they registered just once more from play through Colin Sunderland twelve minutes from time.
Kilmore had already opened a double-figure lead well before then, as the accuracy of White from frees (three) and general play, was supplemented by neat efforts from Aaron Kielthy and Aaron Goff.
And the confident victors picked off 1-4 before the end to advance to the penultimate hurdle with a bit to spare. Despite the yawning gap on the scoreboard, Kielthy showed tremendous workrate to hook an opponent on 51 minutes before flashing past the near post for Kilmore’s second goal.
Tom Byrne was the selfless link between defence and attack throughout, and notched the point his performance deserved one minute later, while White bettered Oulart-The Ballagh’s collective total with two late frees to round off an impressive display.
They have endured their fair share of misfortune in this particular grade over the last couple of years, but seem well placed to make amends for that judging by how well they played here.
Kilmore: Barry Sinnott; Denis Kenny, Stevie Cousins, Shane Goff; Conor Moore (0-1), Tommy Cousins (0-1), Daithí Moore; Tom White (0-11, 7 frees), Páraic Reville (0-1); Aaron Goff (capt., 1-2), Tom Byrne (0-1), Mark Sinnott (0-2); Aaron Kielthy (1-1), Criostóir Reville, Noel Casey. Subs. - Rob Cousins for Casey (37), Philly Sutton for Kenny (51), Seán Hogan for P. Reville (55), Graham Mernagh for Kielthy (57), Damian Rossiter for A. Goff (57).
Oulart-The Ballagh: Cathal Sinnott; Kevin Sinnott, Aidan Murphy, Michael Doyle; Ethan Freeman, Richard Doyle, David Rossiter; Anthony Stamp (0-1), Colin Sunderland (0-1); Eoin Foy, Frank Cullen, Conor Lawless; Lee Hore, Michael Sinnott, Jamie Leacy (capt., 0-8, 7 frees). Sub. - Robbie Dunne for Hore (HT).
Referee: Aiden O’Brien (Cloughbawn).