Shamrocks off the mark
FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UP
A WORKMANLIKE second-half display earned Shamrocks their first win of the Joyces Expert Intermediate ‘A’ football championship Group B, against Kilanerin in Oylegate on Sunday.
After an evenly-contested firsthalf, the sides went in level at the break. But led by the sharpshooting John O’Connor and the industrious Ronan Gahan in attack, the eventual winners ran away with a comfortable win, holding their opponents scoreless for 20 minutes of the second-half.
Kilanerin started brightest, looking very comfortable on the ball in the opening quarter and taking some impressive scores through Colin Breen, Danny Howard, Paddy Carton and Peter Hughes.
However, they failed to register for the remainder of the half as their Enniscorthy town opponents gradually came more and more into the game.
O’Connor, Seán Wildes and John Kavanagh all found the range to level matters before the break.
After Brandon O’Connor and Noel Gallagher traded scores within five minutes of the re-start, it still looked like this game was all to play for.
But after Gahan was pulled down in the small square, and Colin Sheehan buried the resultant spot-kick, the Shamrocks had a new lease of life, with John Kavanagh in terrific form in defence, Wildes pulling the strings in midfield, and O’Connor kicking two tidy points before burying a low shot to the net midway through the half.
Gahan was getting through a mountain of work, tracking back and breaking down Kilanerin’s advances, and no one was more deserving of a score than when he got his just reward by landing a huge kick to put his side ten points clear.
It was a lead the Shamrocks deservedly held on to after a number of scores were traded late on, leaving them with two points after two encounters.
Shamrocks: John Thorpe; Shane Larkin, Alan Freeman, Anthony Wallace; John Kavanagh (0-1), Brandon O’Connor (0-2), Podge Doyle; James Carty (0-1), Seán Wildes (0-1); Ronan Gahan (0-1), John O’Connor (1-5, 0-1 free), Barry Dobbs; Alan Dobbs, Robert Moorehouse, Colin Sheehan (1-0 pen.). Subs. - Mikey Dempsey for Sheehan, Peter Cullen for A. Dobbs, Kevin Somers for Wallace, Lee Kennedy for Moorehouse, Reece Dunne for B. Dobbs.
Kilanerin: Darragh McKenna; Damien Tobin, Lorcan Clare, Paddy Carton (0-1); Colm Noctor, Conor Byrne, Cillian O’Toole; Richard Hughes, Niall Gethings; Martin Sheehan, Noel Gallagher (0-3, 2 frees), Lee Owley; Danny Howard (0-1), Peter Hughes (0-2), Colin Breen (0-1). Subs. - Liam McCarthy for Howard, Matty Forde for Breen, Shane Tobin for Gethings.
Referee: Stephen Burke (Volunteers).