Clinical Kilanerin
Seasiders blown apart with ease
KILANERIN MOVED a step closer to ending their three-year hiatus from Senior ranks by clinically dispatching a disappointing St. Mary’s (Rosslare) outfit in a one-sided Amber Springs/ Ashdown Park Hotels Intermediate football championship semi-final in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday.
The north county men were in complete control from the first whistle to the last, attacking in numbers and looking capable of picking off scores from all angles, while at the other end they were close to impenetrable as St. Mary’s found it difficult to pick any holes in a water-tight defence.
Kilanerin have flattered to deceive, before bowing out at the semi-final and quarter-final stage in the 2015 and 2016 campaigns, but there was no chance of a slip-up this time around as they asserted their dominance from the off and built up 1-9 to 0-1 lead with 25 minutes on the clock.
A coolly-converted penalty from Naomhan Rossiter gave the Rosslare outfit the tiniest glimmer of hope before the switch of ends, but it proved only to be a mild annoyance to Gorey District outfit as they continued to dominate in the second-half.
It was all Kilanerin in the early stages, and they put five unanswered points on the board in the opening nine minutes with Bobby Hughes slotting over two delightful scores, and Dean O’Toole, Matty Forde (free) and Mark Boland all splitting the posts.
Tiarnan Rossiter got an increasingly frustrated St. Mary’s off the mark with a nice left-footed point in the twelfth minute, but it was soon back to business as usual with Matty Forde curling over a couple of beauties.
Forde was again involved when Kilanerin plundered a three-pointer, providing the pass that sent Aidan Jones through on goal, and when his run was halted referee James Owens awarded a penalty.
Goalkeeper Stephen Breen managed to get a good hand to Niall Hughes’ effort, but it had sufficient power to make it over the line.
Forde showed that he has lost none of his accuracy with two more points, before St. Mary’s earned a penalty of their own on one of the rare occasions that they managed to slice through the Kilanerin defence, when Owens adjudged Tiarnan Rossiter had been dragged back.
Naomhan Rossiter took the responsibility and confidently struck the ball into the right-hand corner of the net to give them some sort of foothold in the game.
Shay Boggan did manage to grab the opening two scores of the second-half as the south county men sought an unlikely turnaround, but Kilanerin were having none of it.
Bobby Hughes, Peter Hughes and Matty Forde all contributed points, before a cracking Dean O’Toole goal on 49 minutes totally killed off any lingering hopes as he rifled the ball in off the underside of the bar.
Tiarnan Rossiter came close to grabbing a consolation goal for St. Mary’s moments later when his long-range rasper struck the crossbar, before Kilanerin closed out the game in style with points from Dean O’Toole (two), Bobby Hughes, Mark Gethings and Peter Hughes.
Kilanerin: Tom Hughes; Aidan Jones, Brendan Hobbs, Rhys Owley; Richard Hughes, Colm Kavanagh (capt.), Gavin O’Toole; Niall Breen, Niall Hughes (1-0 pen.); Gearóid O Súilleabháin, Matty Forde (0-7, 3 frees), Mark Boland (0-1); Bobby Hughes (0-4), Peter Hughes (0-2), Dean O’Toole (1-3). Subs. - Mark Gethings (0-1) for O Súilleabháin, Cillian O’Toole for Owley, Tommy Boland for R. Hughes, Emmet O’Toole for Forde, Jim Hughes for G. O’Toole, Eddie Hughes for B. Hughes.
St. Mary’s (Rosslare): Stephen Breen; Shay Boggan (0-2), Emmet Byrne, Gearóid Byrne (capt.); Cian Boggan, Tiarnan Rossiter (0-1), Niall Walsh; Robert Butler, Naomhan Rossiter (1-0 pen.); Ultan Quirke, Andrew Murphy, Paul Kinsella; Lee Devereux, David Murphy (0-1 free), Conor Cafferkey. Subs. - Conal Grant for Devereux, inj., Barry Quirke for A. Murphy, Jason Ellard for Cafferkey, Philip Lambert for U. Quirke, Richard Bent for E. Byrne.
Referee: James Owens (Kilrush).