The Lake men get K clubbed HE’S A ONE MAN CONSTELLATION
O’callaghan’s star shines wherever he goes
Kilcormac-k Castletown
2-15 1-12 DESPITE Niall O’brien’s best efforts, Kilcormackilloughey easily accounted for Castletown Geoghegan in Tullamore yesterday.
The Westmeath forward put in a stunning solo performance, blasting home a goal from a penalty and chipping over a sideline cut as part of his tally of 1-8.
Yet while O’brien caused K-K all sorts of problems, goals from Dan Currams and Peter Healion meant the Offaly champs led by 2-6 to 1-8 at the interval.
Stephen Leonard’s sending off reduced K-K to 14 men after just 30 seconds of the second half, but with a strong breeze now at their backs, they still took control of the tie, aided by a dominant display from midfield pairing Ciarán Slevin and Cillian Kiely.
Five points without reply in a 15-minute spell midway through the half left Castletown Geoghegan with too much to do.
Kilcormac will now meet Mount Leinster Rangers in the provincial semi-final on Sunday week.
Cuala Dicksboro
2-20 1-16 AFTER another sparkling display at Parnell Park yesterday, it’s clear Con O’callaghan has more to strain from 2017 yet.
Having already won an All-ireland with his club and two with his county this year, O’callaghan was crowned Young Footballer of the Year and presented with his first All-star on Friday night.
He was back on club hurling duty yesterday as Cuala began the defence of their Leinster and All-ireland titles with a comfortable dismissal of Dicksboro, the third successive year that the Dalkey outfit have sent Kilkenny’s representatives packing with relative ease.
O’callaghan started brightly, causing Cillian Buckley to be shifted on to him for a spell, depriving Dicksboro of the Kilkenny star’s influence at centre-back.
By the finish, O’callaghan had 1-3, and assisted another 1-5 on top of that.
“Be it football or hurling, he’s a hard chap to tie down,” said Dicksboro boss Mark Dowling.
“What I was really impressed was what he did with limited possessions. He made what he got count.
Mount Leinster Rangers Camross
0-13 0-19 MOUNT Leinster rangers hit their stride in the second half to earn a six-point win over Camross at o’moore Park yesterday.
Camross led by 0-2 to 0-0 early on, with the sides twice level, before the Carlow champions got
“Ultimately then Cillian had to go back and play full-back. We’d hoped to maybe play him in the pocket in front of the full-back.
“But when you’re up against a good side you’re trying to put out fires here and there, it’s just one of those things.
“We’d be really happy with how they all performed, particularly in the first half. It was a keenly contested first half and they had a strong wind.
“At half-time we were happy enough with where we were, just in the second-half their bit of superior strength and experience told.”
Cuala led 1-10 to 0-8 a foothold.
A fourth point from Denis Murphy put Mount Leinster rangers into a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, despite Camross’s best efforts. Murphy impressed from both play and frees, with Dean Delaney cutting the gap for the Laois champions, as they trailed 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time. at half-time, the goal coming from Jake Malone in the 15th minute after a piercing solo run from O’callaghan.
Despite the elements being in their favour, Dicksboro could never get closer than four points in the second half.
O’callaghan’s goal in the 45th minute, coming at the end of slick move involving Nicky Kenny, Sean Treacy and Malone, effectively settled the contest.
Dicksboro struck for a goal through sub Stephen Farrell in the 57th minute but Cuala finished with the last two points to set up a Leinster semi-final against St Martin’s of
Camross were reduced to 14 men after Darrell Dooley picked up his second yellow card six minutes after the restart.
MLR added the next two scores, both from Ted Joyce, and while points from Niall holmes, Mark Dowling and Zane Keenan cut the gap to a point in the 49th minute, MLR drove on to outscore their Wexford on November 19.
“While the opportunity is there for us, we need to push on and achieve as much as we can,” said Cuala boss Mattie Kenny.
“We’re not too sure what that is but our focus was just getting over today’s game and getting to the next match and thankfully we did that.
“Any club player worth his salt has to love being involved this time of year.
“You’re all year training for this time of the year, the business end of the season and if you haven’t got the hunger then you shouldn’t be playing this game.” opponents seven points to two, to book a last four date.
Murphy (4f) 0-6; C Nolan (1f) 0-4; T Joyce 0-3; P Coady 0-2; Derek Byrne, Diarmuid Byrne, J Coady, F Foley (1f) 0-1 each.