Stroll for Cooley
First blood to St Bride’s in group of death
tack, they were simply too hot for Emmets to handle.
It took a wee while for their dominance to translate to the scoreboard, however. It took them the guts of 15 minutes to open a three-point lead through Brian White, Emmet Rogan and Aoghan McGuinness, but once Michael Rafferty teed up the lively Rogan for a well-worked goal, it already looked like game, set and match.
A mere 10 minutes later they were 1-11 to no score clear and with a nice spread of scorers too as Ciaran Sheelan, Rafferty, Fearghal Malone and defenders James O’Reilly and Eoin McDaid found their range.
Emmets Junior final goal hero Ian Cusack netted their opening score in the 28th minute, leaving 12 between them at the break, 1-12 to 1-0.
The second-half was both pedestrian and predictable as Cooley quite contentedly saw the game out and both sides had racked CTI Business Solutions IFC Group D NAOMH Fionnbarra recovered from a five-point deficit early in the second half before claiming victory over St Kevins in an absorbing Intermediate Championship battle in Ardee on Saturday evening.
The Ballygassan side looked to be on the ropes when the Kevins landed three quick-fire points at the start of the second half but they showed great character to drag themselves back into contention.
Well-taken goals from Jack Butterly and Hugh Obsorne saw them take control of the game and although the Kevins fought back in the closing stages, a wonderful point from William Woods sealed victory for the Barrs.
In what proved to be a game played with great intensity throughout, it was the Kevins who had the slight edge in the first half, without ever being able to shake off the Finbarrs challenge.
After a cagey opening, the Barrs did have the opening two points of the game up six points apiece by the end of normal-time.
But perhaps conscious of how important score difference can be, Emmets kept plugging away and were rewarded with 1-1 in injury-time with goal specialist Cusack again popping up with the major. COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Dean McGreehan, Darren Marks, James O’Reilly 0-1; Eoin McDaid 0-1, Conor McGuinness, Gerry Malone; Richard Brennan 0-1, Fearghal Malone 0-2; Emmet Rogan 1-4 (1f), Peter Thornton 0-1, Michae Rafferty 0-1; Aoghan McGuinness, Brian through William Woods, but with the help of scores from Liam Boylan, Cian Callan and Lee Crosbie the Philipstown men levelled at four points each on 20 minutes.
The Kevins quick passing game through the middle really began to pay dividends at that stage and scores from Callan (2) along with efforts from the lively pair of Patrick Clarke and Shane Meade had them 0-8 to 0-4 ahead.
It wasn’t looking good for the Barrs at that stage but they dug deep and efforts from Hugh Osborne (2) and Woods cut the gap to 0-9 to 0-7 at the break.
Within four minutes of the restart to lead was out to five thanks to Lee Crosbie (2) and Callan and their side looked to be on course for victory.
However, the Finbarrs picked themselves up with a well-taken point on 38 minutes from Woods before a brilliant steal from Mairtin Murphy helped Woods set up Jack Butterly for the first goal of the game.
With the Ballygassan men now on top in the middle and the pairing of Woods and Butterly causing all sorts of White 0-1f, Ciaran Sheelan 0-5. Subs: Keith White for F Malone, Conor Kenny for C McGuinness, Alan Page for G Malone, Jake McShane for E Rogan.
GLEN EMMETS: Conor Kelly; Evan English, Tom Grimes, Keith Boylan; Jamie Farnan, Andrew Mooney, Jamie Gilkes 0-1; Sean Byrne, Mark Garvey; Ian Cusack 2-0, Isaac Walsh, Keelan O’Neill; Stephen Healy, Ronan Grufferty 0-3 (1f), James Butler 0-2. Subs: Robert Byrne for S Byrne (black card), David Bracken for E English, Keith Farnan for I Walsh, Sam Kenny 0-1 for J Farnan.
REFEREE: David J McArdle. problems, they soon levelled through Woods before Hugh Osborne burst through to fire in a second goal. Osborne added a point to make it 2-10 to 0-12 on 48 minutes.
Kevins had lost their way at that stage but they did manage to drag themselves back into contention when scores from Callan (2) and Shane Meade cut the gap to just one. However, they missed chances to level the game and were made pay when Woods sealed victory in injury time with a splendid point.
NH FIONNBARRA: Nicholas Butterly; Hugh McGrane, Kieran Lenehan, Niall Matthews; Bryan Sharkey, Oisin McGee, Conor Lenehan; Hugh Osborne 1-3, John Doyle; Mairtin Murphy, Conor Osborne 0-1, Patrick McGrane; Jack Butterly 1-0, Bernard Osborne, William Woods 0-7 (2f, 1 ‘45’). Subs: Darren McConnon for J Doyle, John Crosbie for N Woods.
ST KEVINS: Danny Crosbie; Matthew Downes, Aaron Khan, Michael Grogan; Dylan Maher, Enda McKenna, Patrick Duff; Seanie Crosbie, Sean Callan; Lee Crosbie 0-3, Liam Boylan 0-1, Cian Callan 0-6 (2f); Patrick Clarke 0-3, Shane Meade 0-2, Eoin McKenna. Subs: James Clarke for L Boylan, James Kierans for B Osborne, Barry Byrne for E McKenna.
REFEREE: Thomas Brennan. CTI Business Solutions IFC Group B ST BRIDE’S sent out a big statement of intent to their Intermediate Championship rivals when they recorded a five-point victory over Clan na Gael at Ardee on Saturday evening.
In what was a lively game from the outset the Knockbridge side had the better of proceedings throughout but a series of missed chances saw them fail to take full control. They were almost made to pay for those failings when a Billy Smith goal on 27 minutes helped cut a fivepoint lead to just one.
However, the Brides, who deployed Aaron Hoey in a sweeper role, finally found their consistency in front of the posts and led by the impressive Sean Marry they landed five successive points inside four minutes to seal a deserved victory.
It was to prove to be a disappointing evening for the Clans who, despite their best efforts, were unable to find any real rhythm despite them making the perfect start when Mark Newell opened their account with a goal after picking up a Mark McGeown pass.
That goal came after Kevin Hearty had scored the first point of the game and he was to become the star of the first half for the Brides and he had three points on the board inside the first quarter along with a Conall Devin free to put his side 0-4 to 0-3 in front. However, the Clans enjoyed their best spell of the game with points from Billy Smith (2) and Leo Martin to take the lead.
The Brides didn’t help their cause with a total of seven wides but Hearty wasn’t found wanting in the 27th minute when he slipped the ball under Sean Smyth to send his side in leading by 1-5 to 1-4 at the break.
The Knockbridge men were playing with the greater cohesion in the second half and with Paddy Reilly and Conor Deane getting on top in the middle, and the half back line of Mark Hoey, Andrew Smith and Michael Keane driving forward the took control of the game.
Again they were guilty of missing chances but with Sean Marry coming to the fore and Reilly finding his range they opened up a 1-11 to 1-6 gap on 27 minutes.
The Clans were give hope when Smith pounced to fire home a loose ball before a Robbie Curran point reduced the deficit to 1-11 to 2-7.
However, the Brides response was impressive and Marry completed a fine second half display with two quick-fire points before Sean Brennan, Andrew Smith and Reilly landed scores to seal victory despite a late Clans point from sub Ciaran O’Connor.
ST BRIDES: Conall Devin 0-1 (f); Ronan Bailey, Killian Kirk, David Kettle; Mark Hoey, Andrew Smith 0-1, Michael Keane; Paddy Reilly 0-3, Conor Deane 0-3; Sean Marry 0-5 (1f), Kevin Hearty 1-3, James Costello; Ciaran Deane 0-1, Sean Brennan 0-1, Aaron Hoey. Subs: Padraig Mackin for D Kettle, Bernard Laverty for J Costello, Aaron Devin for K Hearty.
CLAN NA GAEL: Sean Smyth; Ian Carr, Craig Long, Micheal McDonnell; John Byrne, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Kevin Carroll; Leo Martin, Robbie Curran 0-4 (3f); Conall McKeever, Mark McGeown, Ray McCabe; Paul Gore, Mark Newell 1-1, Billy Smith 1-2. Subs: Tiarnan Reilly for I Carr, Ciaran O’Connor 0-1 for L Martin, Jason Cullen for R McCabe BC, Leo Martin for M Newell.
REFEREE: Stephen Murphy.