Wasteful Kilrush through

KILRUSH CLOUGHBAWN 0-11 1-2

A WASTEFUL Kilrush battled their way past Cloughbawn to book their place in the final of the Greenstar Under-20 Rionn 1 Football Championship on Saturday Afternoon in the Ferns Centre of Excellence.

While their accuracy on point attempts will certainly need to improve before their final encounter, few could deny that the astonishing performance of Cloughbawn goalkeeper Jack Feeney played a massive part in keeping the contest alive into the closing stages.

Indeed, the scoreline could’ve looked very different with someone else between the sticks as Feeney pulled off impressive point blank saves on no fewer than six occasions.

The first save led to the game’s opening point in fact. Kevin Kenny exploited a gap in the Cloughbawn backline before smashing towards goal only for Feeney to deflect the effort over the bar.

He denied Martin Byrne from close range before Askamore started to focus their efforts on raising the white flag instead – Tomas Kinsella kicking two over in two minutes to extend Kilrush’s lead.

However, on a rare flurry forward, Cloughbawn struck back.

Shane Kehoe’s effort from long range dipped under the crossbar with the help of a blustery wind and suddenly Cloughbawn were well and truly in the game (0-3 to 1-0).

Darragh Kinsella and Ned O’Neill kicked minors before the interval and Feeney was called into action again to deny James Byrne, but when Kehoe knocked over his side’s only point of the half, he left just one score between the sides (0-5 to 1-1).

Cloughbawn did their best to stick with Kilrush in the early stages of the second half. James Dempsey cancelled out Jack Nolan’s early score but that was to be the last time Cloughbawn would raise either of the flags.

Kilrush didn’t exactly make it easy on themselves though. Feeney continued his incredible form by denying Kevin Kenny, Nolan and O’Neill before the final whistle and when Kenny finally though he had beaten the Cloughbawn shot-stopper, his strike cannoned back off the crossbar.

Askamore only pulled away from Cloughbawn in the final ten minutes.

Martin Byrne found the scoresheet before captain Sean Buckley increased their advantage to three in the 50th minute.

James Byrne, Kevin Kenny and Tomas Kinsella added a little more gloss to the scoreline in the final moments as the Ballyroebuck boys completed their batting semi-final win.