Frantic finish but just no separating Kilcoole and Ashford

a piece.

While Kilcoole dominated this game for most periods and were 1-10 to 1-07 ahead when the game turned on its head with Conor Murphy O’Toole receiving his marching orders for a black card that was preceded by a yellow 10 minutes earlier.

This gave Ashford the impetus they needed to reel off four points on the bounce without reply from the Goosebank men.

At this stage, it all became a bit frantic with Kilcoole under pressure to get something out of this game.

Up stepped Matthew Gilbert, who was calmness personified to fire over the equaliser.

Ironically enough, the coolness shown by Mathew 30 seconds earlier deserted him as he found himself six yards out with the goal at his mercy, however Will Hender Phillips in the Ashford goal produced a spiderman type save to keep the game level.

Kilcoole started this game in dominant fashion however a lack of composure in front of goal and strong pressure from the Ashford defence meant that Kilcoole’s wides soon started to rack up.

In fact they had six wides registered before they opened their account with a free from the boot of Danny Kavanagh.

Ashford worked a lovely reply soon afterwards through Brendan Mannion. Kilcoole’s dominance began to show on the scoreboard mainly through placed balls from Danny Kavanagh and Matthew Gilbert, as they raced into an 0-06 to 0-03 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half.

At this stage it looked like Kilcoole might kick on however back came Ashford with a goal scored from inside the six-yard box. It was a goal that was well finished by Colm Doyle however Kilcoole will be disappointed that they didn’t clear the ball after numerous chances to do so.

Back came Kilcoole again with two Danny Kavanagh frees to send the sides in at half-time with Kilcoole leading by two, 0-08 to 1-03.

Kilcoole started the second half strong like the first half and got their just award with a rocket of a strike from Danny Kavanagh from a very acute angle.

This goal seemed to spark Ashford into life, as they rattled off a few valuable scores from Brendan Mannion, Michael Taylor and Dean Mooney.

However, Kilcoole seemed comfortable up until the sending off, when Ashford took over and scored the four points without reply to take the lead for the first time.

Cue the frantic finish to this game, before referee Pat Hickey called a halt to proceedings with three minutes of injury time played.

Best for Kilcoole were Eoin Keddy (who covered every blade of grass on the pitch), Dara Keddy, Danny Kavanagh and Conor Murphy O Toole.

For Ashford Brendan Mannion was accurate from place balls, Thomas Kearns and Colm Doyle caused problems through out! Robert Clarkson had a big impact when introduced.

Kilcoole: Glen Tighe; Conor O Toole, Luke Reilly, Charlie Maguire; Dara Keddy, Ronan Keddy, Kevin Condon; Toby O’Brien and Vinny Quigley; Jack Bellamy, Matt Gilbert (0-05), Eoin Keddy; Luke Evans, Danny Kavanagh (1-06), Declan Roper. Subs: Bradley Delany for Luke Evans, Keith Reynolds for Kevin Condon.

Scorers for Ashford: Brendan Mannion 0-08, Colm Doyle 0-01, Michael Taylor, Dean Mooney, Robert Clarkson 0-01 each.

Referee: Pat Hickey