Kilanerin have a fighting chance

KILANERIN ST. MARTIN’S

KILANERIN’S SECOND string gave themselves more than a fighting chance of progressing to the quarter-finals of the Joyces Expert Intermediate ‘A’ football championship after a well-deserved 2-11 to 2-7 victory over St. Martin’s in Sunday’s competitive Group B match at Monamolin.

Two wins on the trot means that the north county men currently occupy the fourth qualification spot with four points from two games, and they only need a point from their final game against District rivals Craanford to confirm their passage.

And they showed commendable mental fortitude to take the spoils here, as a sloppily-conceded Philly Waters goal on twelve minutes had given St. Martin’s a 1-1 to 0-3 lead.

That came about when Brian Hughes dropped a delivery and Waters capitalised by poking in from a tight angle.

But Kilanerin responded with a brilliant goal on 19 minutes when Stephen Neville supplied Patrick Fortune, who in turn stepped to his right before planting to the net to turn the tables and make it 1-3 to 1-1.

Lee Owley added three points from play before the break, while two Darren Jordan frees kept St. Martin’s in touch (1-8 to 1-3) at the interval.

An audacious point from play by Jordan looked to set a St. Martin’s revival in motion, and when Richie Devereux used all of his experience to cut in and goal under the outrushing Eoin Lucey, the gap had suddenly shrunk to 1-10 to 2-5 after 45 minutes.

The same player halved the deficit with a towering point soon after, although Jim Hughes responded with a relieving free nine minutes from time.

Jordan (free) left the minimum between two evenly-matched sides once more, but Fortune left a lasting impression on the game when he met Cathal O’Reilly’s popped pass at speed before crashing home the all-important goal a minute shy of normal time.

Kilanerin then embarked on a mini game of keep-ball in the almost three minutes of injury time to hold what they had as St. Martin’s slumped to their third loss from four outings.

Kilanerin: Eoin Lucey (capt.); Brian Hughes, Edward Hughes, Lorcan Clare; Cathal O’Reilly, Stephen Hughes, Colm Noctor; Niall Gethings, Patrick Fortune (2-0); Stephen Neville, Jim Hughes (0-1 free), Gearóid O Súilleabháin (0-1); Lee Owley (0-6, 3 frees), Brendan Hobbs (0-1), Seán Bardon (0-2). Subs. - Colin Breen for Bardon (46), Stephen Mordaunt for Gethings (53).

St. Martin’s: Nicky Greene; Kevin Price, Sam Audsley (capt.), Tony Kelly; Jack Roche, Donal Kelly, Adrian Ryan; Philip McDermott (0-1), Darren Jordan (0-5, 4 frees); Ben Stafford, Richie Devereux (1-1), Martin Whelan; Liam Ó Lionáin, Philly Waters (1-0), Seán Stafford. Subs. - Pádraig Rossiter for Whelan (35), Mikey Coleman for Ó Lionáin (40), Kevin Price for Waters, inj. (47).

Referee: Paul Browne (Clonee).