McBride pulls all the strings
AGB in fine form in Tinahely
AGB’S second team recorded a significant Carter Cup victory on the road last week when they dismantled their Tinahely opponents to return home 3-18 to 1-12 winners after an entertaining hour of football on a pleasant August evening.
Key to the victory for AGB was the performance of centre-half forward Alan McBride who pulled all sorts of strings over the course of the evening and popped over some fine scores into the bargain.
A creative midfield in the form of Pauric Kelleher and Ross Hynes was also of major benefit to the visitors and together with a resolute defence marshalled by commanding Conan Doyle and a threatening forward line, it was something of a difficult evening for the Tinahely side.
It probably shouldn’t have been though when all things are considered. The home side took to the field with some very impressive names within their team list.
Loyal servants such as Laurence Keating at full-back, a strong half-back line of Tony Lacey, Brian Hickey and Niall O’Gorman were lending their support to a midfield of David Dillon and Patrick Dixon. Ahead of them you had Pádraig Murphy at centre-half forward with Paul O’Keeffe and Niall Byrne up front alongside the troublesome Sean Pollard.
However, the Tinahely men looked ill at ease at times and a united AGB outfit, with McBride in very impressive form, made hay while the sun set.
It was McBride who opened the scoring after three minutes thanks to a run from the energetic Ross Hynes.
A scavenging Tony Lacey collected a break from William Lillis’ kick out and fed Pádraig Murphy who fired over a superb score to get Tinahely off the mark and the home side led briefly when Sean Pollard pointed after five minutes after a goal chance was missed.
Pauric Kelleher walloped over at the other end and we had a game on our hands at 0-02 apiece with six minutes on the clock.
A Tommy Hurley point was followed by a Pauric Kelleher goal thanks to quality work from McBride out the field and AGB were on their way at 1-03 to 0-02.
The visitors dominated the rest of the opening half and a second goal, this time from full-forward Tommy Hurley, sent them in leading by 2-09 to 1-04, leaving Tinahely with plenty of work to do in the second half.
Substitute Calem Devereux kept the pressure up with a point after the restart and then Ross Hynes bombed over two superb scores either side of a decent David Dillon effort for Tiahely.
Hynes’ second point was a magnificent drop kick from way out the field that soared over the Tinahely crossbar.
Tinahely battled hard and clocked up a few decent scored but they were playing second fiddle for the most part here and a ripper of a goal from Cathal Darcy put the icing on the cake for the AGB men who went hom happy with a 3-18 to 1-12 victory under their belts.
AGB: Mervyn Travers; Michael O’Sullivan, Conan Doyle, Kyle O’Connor; Gary Fennell, Jack Hamilton, Ryan Stafford; Pauric Kelleher, Ross Hynes; Conor Doyle, Alan McBride, Gavin Bartley; Cathal Darcy, Tommy Hurley, Shane Donohoue. Subs: Callum Devereux for S Donohoue (H/T), Kyle Dowling for T Hurley (38min); Ian Kelleher for G Fennell (38min); Tom Jameson for R Stafford (55min).
Tinahely: William Lillis; Ronan Hedderman, Laurence Keating, Danny Quinn; Tony Lacey, Brian Hickey, Niall O’Gorman; David Dillon, Patrick Dixon; Bill Kavanagh, Pádraig Murphy, Enda O’Keeffe; Sean Pollard, Paul O’Keeffe, Niall Byrne. Subs: Adam Cullen for E O’Keeffe, Aaron Hayden for N O’Gorman.
Referee: Gerry Corbett.