Round-up of all the action from the IFC
A NIGHTMARE finish to their first group game against Ballinacor will have given AGB manager Damien Redmond plenty of sleepless nights over the last fortnight.
After a solid performance against a tired looking and depleted Carnew team a more contented Redmond will have put his head down last Saturday happy with the fact his young team are showing plenty of promise and are real live contenders for this year’s Intermediate championship.
As they always do, Carnew gave them a real test, injuries hampered their cause and Casey O’Brien knows better than anybody the drain a double bid can have on the resources of a club. Many of these lads already have a number of championship games under their belt in the small ball game, they will now have to dust themselves down and get ready for Stratford this weekend and aim to get their football bid back on track.
Somebody near me in the crowd commented just as John Keenan threw in the ball it would be men against boys, the fact this gentleman left with somewhere in the region of ten minutes still to play shows just how impressive the Arklow lads were on the night.
An early Owen Coleman shot for Carnew dropped short and from goalkeeper Tommy Hurley all the way up to Darragh Fitzgerald who shot the first wide of the game AGB moved the ball at pace and this was the pattern of their play all through with the one criticism that maybe at times there was one pass too many.
Philip Gleeson shot the first point of the game for AGB from distance after four minutes, seconds later a pin point pass from Darragh Fitzgerald found Cormac Hyland inside the Carnew full back line and he won the foot race with Nick Skelton and got the vital touch that took it past Thomas Kinsella in the Carnew goal.
Gleeson was dropping deep early on and Mark Collins was staying at home and manning the centre back position for Carnew and this was causing some problems for the smaller Arklow forwards at times when they decided to carry the ball in to tackles.
Enda Donohoe floated over a free to get Carnew off and running and when a short kick out from AGB went astray Conall McCrea added another instantly. Liam Kennedy found Owen Coleman with a fine pass but the full forwards effort brought calls for Hawkeye as the flag stayed down.
He did find the range moments later when the ball was recycled after a Carnew penalty claim was waved away. By this stage Timmy Collins had left the right corner and was working hard all over the field, to the detriment of Carnew AGB corner back Tom Maher didn’t follow, he swept across the back line in as good a performance of intelligent defending you are likely to see in Aughrim this year. He was like a magnet for the ball at times and with speed to burn and an innate ability to read a game he made it look an easy ask.
Carnew’s best move of the night arrived in the 17th minute after a passing move involving a number of players seen Sean Kinsella who had started well at centre forward square the ball for Jack Doyle to bravely finish to the net.
Kinsella was injured in this passage of play and departed to be replaced by Brendan McCrea. AGB full back James Tyrell also left the action at this time and Danny O’Hart was moved back to the edge of the square to mark Coleman where he done a fine job keeping the dangerous Coleman quiet.
Cal Kelly fetched a kick out and soloed straight at the centre of the Carnew defence, he played Philip Healy in with a precise pass and Healy buried the chance with his left foot to restore the AGB lead 2-1 to 1-3.
AGB added another point after Healy and Cormac Hyland exchanged passes as Carnew lost two more of their starting team as Justin House and Thomas Kinsella departed injured. One of those introduced Niall Osborne pointed after a Jack Doyle lay off and Donohoe again made sweet contact to point a 45 to level it up as the clock ticked in to injury time. Healy restored the lead for AGB after Tom Maher got forward to set him up and the other corner back Ciaran Hyland was wide as a frantic half came to an end with the AGB men leading 2-3 to 1-5.
Minutes after the restart Cormac O’Shea pointed his first score after a mazy Fitzgerald run, Healy got another and Cal Kelly fisted over to stretch the lead to 2-6 to 1-5 after ten minutes of the second half as Carnew struggled to get their hands on the ball.
Brendan McCrea broke the run of Arklow scores with a pointed free and Donohoe added another free as Carnew fought back once more. Carnew were getting some joy in the middle of the park now as Padraig Doran and Liam Kennedy were finally getting the measure of the impressive JP Hurley and Cal Kelly. Healy had a fisted effort float wide after his opportunism seen him get on the end of an O’Shea shot that looked to be going well wide.
Around this time the Carnew men picked up another setback as Timmy Collins departed with a serious looking injury, with so much of his starting fifteen now sitting beside him on the bench Casey O’Brien will have no doubt scanned the road on his way home to Wicklow for the carcass of a black cat such was his bad luck on the day.
Cormac O’Shea put a goal between them again with a free and also pointed from play to cap a fine second half display from him. A vital interception from TJ Hennessy stopped Cathal Kelleher getting in on goal and Ciaran Hyland rolled back the years with one of his lung busting solo runs to set Healy up to knock over another point and the AGB full forward even allowed himself a little fist pump celebration before dropping deep to make sure there was no repeat of what happened in the previous round. Carnew to their credit kept trying and had a couple of wides, the final score of the game was a well worked and well deserved point for Cathal Kelleher. A good team effort from the Arklow boys and a win that will give them confidence going forward but don’t rule out the Carnew men just yet. AGB: Tommy Hurley; Ciaran Hyland, James Tyrell, Tom Maher; Chris O’Brien, Danny O’Hart, Gary Tyrell; JP Hurley, Cal Kelly (0-1); Cormac O’Shea (0-3, 1 free), Philip Gleeson (0-1), Cormac Hyland (1-1), Cathal Kelleher (0-1), Philip Healy (1-3), Darragh Fitzgerald. Subs: Karl Kirwan for James Tyrell (17 mins, inj), Darragh McBride for Gleeson (57 mins). CARNEW: Thomas Kinsella, Willie Collins, Andy Hughes, Cormac Doyle; Nick Skelton, Mark Collins, Justin House; Padraig Doran, Liam Kennedy; Enda Donohoe (0-3, 2 frees, 1 45), Sean Kinsella, Conall McCrea (0-1); Timmy Collins, Owen Coleman (0-1), Jack Doyle (1-0). Subs: Brendan McCrea (0-1f) for Kinsella (17 min inj), Niall Osborne (0-1) for House (24 inj), Ted Kennedy for Kinsella (26 mins inj), James Nolan for C McCrea (43 mins), TJ Hennessey for T Collins (50 mins inj).