Efficient performance from Kilmacanogue men

at Ashford received a yellow card for a late challenge on Gavan Burke.

Kilmac seemed intent on letting their football doing the talking and by the fourth minute both Stephen Morgan and Andrew Molloy had raised white flags with fine efforts.

It had been a rampant start by the Sugarloaf men but An Tochar got to grips with them and when Brendan Kennedy got the best of Bob O’Donnell, he fed Conor McKenna who ignored the simple point and opted to lash wide in search of the three.

The first of seven frees for Josh O’Callaghan in the 12th minute and it was the pick of the bunch. The 19-year-old curled over a real doozy from smack bang on the left-hand touchline.

An Tochar’s heavy-handed approach to tackling handed O’Callaghan another free before captain Niall Meldon broke free of a congested area and found the inch of space he needed to float one over from distance.

Sandwiched between those efforts was another chance for McKenna to get off the mark but again his eyes only saw the green flag and it was a straight-forward save for Daryl Tighe in the Kilmac goal.

In contrast to An Tochar, the Kilmac tackling and pressing was a shining example in how to defend and won them umpteen turnovers and frees.

Despite their dominance, they still only had a five-point advantage to show for their efforts and quickfire points from Kennedy and McKenna left just a goal separating the sides.

O’Callaghan and Simon Doyle pushed their side further ahead but a free from Kennedy left An Tochar trailing by four points at the interval; a far from unassailable lead.

Kilmac thought they’d found a goal two minutes into the second period.

A peach of a pass from Morgan’s wand found the in-rushing Kevin Redden. He couldn’t apply the finish and nor could Molloy but even when An Tochar regained possession, superb defensive work from Craig O’Neill saw them over-carry and gift Kilmac another free.

A raking pass from Molloy was next to unlock the An Tochar defence and Redden popped a pass off to the runner – Simon Doyle – who steered over.

Nineteen minutes into the second half saw An Tochar make their first impact on the scoreboard to leave themselves with seven points to chase and 11 minutes to achieve it.

All they could muster was one more final effort and it was Kilmac that upped the stakes and ran in 1-3 in the final 10 minutes as Jonathan Daniels had the luxury of emptying his bench.

Having displayed an outstanding defensive plan, Kilmac proved they are no slouches in attack either with their goal.

With An Tochar relaxing their policy on their sweeper, Kilmac pounced. A long ball sparked them into life and incredibly quick hands from Molloy-O’Neill-Doyle saw Doyle put it on a plate for Josh O’Callaghan who slapped it into the net.

That leaves Kilmac tied at the top with Dunlavin.

Only a single point pushes Kilmac above Dunlavin on points difference so it should be a fascinating clash when the duo go head to head in the final round of fixtures.

Scorers - Kilmacanogue: Josh O’Callaghan 1-8 (7 F’s), Robert Conan 0-2, Simon Doyle 0-2, Stephen Morgan 0-1, Niall Meldon 0-1, Andrew Molloy 0-1.

An Tochar: Brendan Kennedy 0-2 (1F), Conor McKenna 0-1.

Kilmacanogue: Daryl Tighe; Donal Tuohy, Eoin Tuohy, Bob O’Donnell; Luke O’Callaghan, Gavan Burke, Craig O’Neill; Cian Rafferty, Robert Conan; Simon Doyle, Niall Meldon, Kevin Redden; Stephen Morgan, Andrew Molloy, Josh O’Callaghan.

An Tochar: Peter Byrne; David Molloy, Gavin Kenny, Owen Mulrane; Stephen Connor, Stefan Collier, Andrew Carstairs; Lorcan Nolan, Jamie Salley; Brendan Swords, Mickey Fanning, Eamonn Wolohan; Conor McKenna, Bill Halligan, Brendan Kennedy.

Referee: J O’Brien (Newcastle)