Anne’s claim title
Kennedy’s goal the important score
AFTER KYLE Kennedy crashed home a 49th-minute goal, St. Anne’s pushed on to eventually finish with a well-deserved twopoint victory over a battling St. Fintan’s outfit in this EEW All-County Hurling League Division 7 final in Kilmore on Sunday.
Clashes of these two close neighbours bring out the best in each other, and this in turned contributed to a very entertaining 60 minutes.
The result was in doubt right to the final whistle, as St. Anne’s battled to protect their lead, while St. Fintan’s putting in a determined performance as they sought a match-winning goal with some intense late pressure.
But with St. Anne’s defending stubbornly and managing to build some promising attacks, inspired by the individual flair of Kevin Whelan and Kyle Kennedy, they continued to frustrate the opposition and picked off the crucial scores that saw them hold out for an impressive victory.
Little separated the sides through the opening 30 minutes, with Dylan O’Brien for St. Anne’s showing real accuracy from frees, while he was matched at the opposite end by Niall Moore.
At the end of the opening quarter St. Anne’s led by 0-4 to 0-3, but with Moore picking off some excellent points St. Fintan’s responded.
However, two excellent Kyle Kennedy points brought the sides back level, leaving it 0-7 each at the interval.
Both sides needed something special to gain a decisive edge. However, onlookers had to wait until the 43rd minute for the opening score of the half, a Jim Ryan point for St. Anne’s.
After Kevin Whelan and Eoin O’Callaghan had exchanged points, the decisive score arrived in the 49th minute.
St. Anne’s played a long direct ball out of the half-back line which was fastened onto by Kyle Kennedy. He still had some work to do, but he managed to beat his marker, carrying the ball along the endline before beating ‘keeper Richard Rowe with a low shot at his near post. It was an excellent goal, that helped his side into a 1-10 to 0-8 lead.
St. Fintan’s started to mount more attacks and they were hauled right back into contention when John William Rowe got his hurl to a high ball to deflect it to the net.
Pádhraic Rossiter and Paddy Miskella went on to exchange points as St. Anne’s held out in a tense finish for a deserved victory.
St. Anne’s: Dylan Kavanagh; Jim Ryan (0-1), Joe O’Connor, Gavin O’Brien; Shane Mythen, Niall Doyle, Kevin White; Kevin Whelan (0-4), Barry Roche; Paddy Miskella (0-1), Diarmuid Kelly (0-1), Philip Rawson; Dylan O’Brien (0-3 frees), Francis Simpson, Kyle Kennedy (1-2). Subs. - Conor Ryan for Rawson, Robert Byrne for G. O’Brien, Michael O’Brien for Roche.
St. Fintan’s: Richard Rowe; Shane Sinnott, Niall Murphy, Adrian Murphy; Edmond Cleary, Frank Staples, Adam Devereux; Robert Coakley, Peter Goldsmith; Eoin O’Callaghan (0-2), Pádhraic Rossiter (0-2), Niall Moore (0-6, 4 frees); Tom Cullen, John William Rowe (1-0), Damien Corish. Sub. Cathal Furlong for Corish.
Referee: Dan Crosby (Kilmore).