Murnane storms into game to seal victory

COUNTY SHC QUARTER-FINAL Crotta O’Neills 2-11 Kilmoyley 1-15

IF there’s one guy you can rely on it’s Tom Murnane.

He’s been the rock upon which the Kilmoyley empire has been built this past decade. His current manager – Shane Brick – was often the pièce de résistance. His current captain – Daniel Collins – is the wizard knitting the whole thing together, pulling strings and breaking hearts. Murnane, though, is the corner stone.

The former Kerry captain exudes authority. He brings the type of leadership to the table that money can’t buy. There’s a reason why Kerry boss Fintan O’Connor was so keen to convince him to stay on the senior panel for the past two seasons and on Saturday evening we were given a timely reminder of it.

At a time when his team’s championship hopes were looking far from assured, Murnane stamped his authority all over this game. After a first half that saw Crotta dominate, Kilmoyley needed to up the intensity, to stem and, subsequently, to turn the tide.

Murnane was absolutely central to that, forgetting even about the inspirational pair of points he scored at either end of the second half. Pretty much as soon as the second half began Crotta just couldn’t get the ball to stick, they couldn’t gain possession on the half-forward line, not with Murnane leading a Kilmoyley revival at half-back.

In the first half Crotta looked the sharper, more hungry outfit winning more than their fair share of the fifty / fifty stuff and turning the ball over more than they were being turned over themselves.

After ten minutes the underdogs held a lead of four points to two – Shane Nolan (three) and Tomás O’Connor with the Crotta points, Jordan Brick and Joe McElligott with the Kilmoyley response – and were good value for that lead.

It’s worth noting that the breeze was at Crotta backs into the Horan’s end in the first half, but even so it was impressive stuff by the green and red. Five minutes later and Pádraig Cronin’s men had stretched that advantage to four with pair of near identical points by Darragh O’Donoghue and Jordan Conway.

The points seemed to represent something of a warning shot across the bows for Kilmoyley. Both players won their puck-outs in and around their opponent’s sixty five, both took it on straight and floated it over the bar.

On seventeen minutes a listing Kilmoyley were given even more reason for worry when Mike Lynch sent to the back of John Brendan Halloran’s net at the end of a nice move involving both Shane Nolan and Raymond Nolan (who scooped to the ball to the full-forward).

Kilmoyley, to be fair, even at that point when they were not anywhere near their best still had a fighting spirit. Two minutes after Lynch’s goal – and Lynch went off injured soon after in a real blow to the challengers – Kilmoyley forced a save from Adam O’Sullivan when Collins assisted Jordan Brick for a shot at goal.

Even so the momentum remained with Crotta. Another two points quickly followed through Barry Mahony and Shane Nolan (a sixty five) before Kilmoyley got back on the scoreboard through Daniel Collins, who was just beginning to come into his own, on twenty seven minutes.

Collins made it a six point game at the half hour mark – 1-8 to 0-5. Crotta, however, seeking to end the half on a high struck back straight away with a goal from, literally, the puck-out.

Jordan Conway claiming and going on a surging run and unleashing a powerful effort from distance with a low trajectory right to the back of O’Halloran’s net. Another hammer blow or at least it would have been had Kilmoyley not responded as they did with a goal of their own through Seán Maunsell (assist Kieran Regan).

Crotta would still have been satisfied with a six point lead at the break – 2-8 to 1-5 – but they really needed to maintain that lead of nine points into the second half. The goal for Kilmoyley came at the best / worst time depending on your point of view.

For Kilmoyley it was the shot in the arm their challenge needed. Including Maunsell’s goal they went on to score 1-5 without reply at the start of the second half. Crotta went about seventeen minutes without a score until Shane Nolan converted a free on forty five mintues.

It did little to turn the tide. Kilmoyley were still rampant and scored another four on the bounce (and they could have had another goal through Maunsell). The thing was, and for as poor as Crotta were playing by then, their halftime lead gave them a chance.

After Maurice O’Connor’s point on fifty two minutes, Crotta were just two points in arrears – 2-9 to 1-14 – and still in with a chance of victory. A pointed free from Nolan (on fifty five minutes) and a point from Mahony a minute later levelled the game back up again.

It was then that Kilmoyley turned to the man whose work had done so much to turn the tide in this game, Tom Murnane, for the winning score on fifty nine minutes. Like we’ve already said you can always rely on Tom Murnane.

CROTTA O’NEILLS: Adam O’Sullivan, Eamon Shanhan, Seán Weir, Bill Keane, Tom McElligott, Richard Nolan, Jeaic McKenna, Tomás O’Connor (0-1), Barry Mahony (0-2), Darragh O’Donoghue (0-1), Jordan Conway (1-1), Mike Lynch (1-0), Raymond Nolan (0-1), Shane Nolan (0-5, 2f, 1 ‘65), Pádraig Quill Subs: Donal Hunt for M Lynch (inj), 22, Darragh Kennelly for P Quille, 45, Thomas Quinlan for R Nolan, 54

KILMOYLEY: John B O’Halloran, Seán Nolan, James Godley, Seánie Murnane, Robert Collins, Tom Murnane (0-2), Dougie Fitzell, Donal Kennedy, Kieran McCarthy, Seán Maunsell (1-0), Daniel Collins (0-5, 1f, 1 ‘65), Jordan Brick (0-3), Maurice O’Connor (0-2), Flor McCarthy, Joe McElligott (0-1) Subs: Kieran Regan (0-2) for D Kennedy, 29, Conor Fitzell for F McCarthy, 59, John Redmond for J McElligott, 59

REFEREE: Joe Larkin (Cork)