The race for ‘Miley’ just got very interesting!
Tommy Kelly in super form
ST PATRICK’S NEWTOWN 0-18 0-05
NEWTOWN have obviously angered an evil witch or wizard of some kind because you’d have to think that the Magpies are cursed in 2016 after watching them ship a heavy defeat to a very promising Pat’s side whose management and players probably had the best sleep in years on Sunday night following Rathnew’s exit from the championship.
But poor Newtown. Your heart would go out to them. Eight strong players missing from the starting 15, including talisman Dean Odlum and they are sent out to face Robert Hollingsworth’s men and then Kenneth Turner receives attention in the warm up but starts and then Oisin Greenan has to come off after 12 minutes because of an injury. What team could succeed after that?
But success has many forms and perhaps the brave showing of the Magpies in the face of a powerful adversary in Aughrim on Sunday while carrying such a load is a success in itself and the fact that John Murphy’s side are free of the relegation woes could certainly be seen as a victory.
Meanwhile Pat’s look promising. But then Pat’s always look promising.
Positives for Robert Hollingsworth are the performance of Tommy Kelly at full-forward. Eight tasty points to his name and he caused all sorts of difficulties for Shane Mooney and he looks really up for the fight this year. Eamonn Wolfe looks hungry in then corner and his game includes quite a bit of bite so the semi-final will be extremely interesting.
Stephen Duffy is controlling matters without even looking like he’s controlling matters. He’s wandering around the field like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, popping up here and there with a magic spell of a pass and bellowing a “You shall not pass” with his defensive play. In short he’s a wizard out the field and curbing his influence on a game has to be key for any opponent they face.
A young and talented half-forward line, but they didn’t have the best of days but then they did face a very brave and eager halfback line from Newtown. Conor Ffrench and John Crowe bring an abundance of energy and Brian Doyle impressed in parts with his enthusiasm and intelligence.
It’s been said before but Dean Healy is a tank and Jonathan Delahunt is made of similar armour but they certainly didn’t have it all their own way against Mark Fitzsimons and John Halpin.
The most promising aspects of Pat’s play was their defence. Paudge McWalter made some searing runs from deep, Niall Donnelly and Wayne Doyle were abrasive, Emmet Cullen is mobile and adaptable while Padraig Higgins and Ciaran Doyle were tight and aware. Ian Murphy is becoming a very good goalkeeper.
It was a Niall Donnelly ball in to Tommy Kelly that allowed the Pat’s forward to pop over his opener in the opening minute and they led by 0-05 to 0-0 after 21 minutes when Kelly grabbed his third of the day, the others coming from a Stephen Duffy free and a magical McWalter effort off the outside of his right boot.
Keith Dalton had been introduced for Newtown and he put in a massive shift for the Magpies in place of the injured Oisin Greenan and Dalton fired over their opener after 22 minutes thanks to hard running at the Pat’s defence.
The loyal and passionate Dessie Waters rose highest in a congested space to punch over Newtown’s second on the stroke of half-time to make it 0-07 to 0-02 for Pat’s and the Magpies had performed stoically it has to be said and made Pat’s look very ordinary in patches of the opening 30 minutes with their battling and scrapping skills.
A beautiful jink allowed Tommy Kelly the room to get the second off to a superb start for him with a fine point but Newtown then took control of matters and points from Ross Davis, a free, Sean Odlum, and the hard-working John Heffernan made it 0-09 to 0-05 for Pat’s with their ninth point coming from Kelly after a sublime McWalter ball.
That fifth score was to be Newtown’s last but that’s not to take from their efforts for the remainder of the game. But Pat’s powered on. Kelly, Richard Murphy, Brian Doyle, Ruairi Marron, Stephen Duffy, Kelly woth two more, one a free, Niall Donnelly, and Eamonn Wolfe completed the scoring tally for Pat’s who now march on to the semi-finals where they will face Blessington. They’ll take serious stopping.
Scorers – St Patrick’s: Tommy Kelly 0-08; Stephen Duffy 0-02; Paudge McWalter 0-02; Niall Donnelly 0-01; Brian Doyle 0-01; John Crowe 0-01; Eamonn Wolfe 0-01; Richard Murphy 0-01; Ruairi Marron 0-01.
St Patrick’s: Ian Murphy; Padraig Higgins, Emmet Cullen, Ciaran Doyle; Niall Donnelly, Paudge McWalter, Wayne Doyle; Dean Healy, Jonathan Delahunt; Conor Ffrench, Brian Doyle, John Crowe; Eamonn Wolfe, Thomas Kelly, Stephen Duffy. Subs: Brian Coen for J Crowe (35min); Richard Murphy for J Delahunt (35min); Ruairi Marron for W Doyle (49min); Shane Doyle for C Ffrench (58min).
Newtown: Kenneth Turner; Glen Carthy, Shane Mooney, Stephen Kelly; Stephen Davis, Neil Martin, Oisin Greenan; Mark Fitzsimons, John Halpin; John Heffernan, Dessie Waters, Ross Davis; Sean Odlum, Luke Martin, Robert Greenan. Subs: Keith Dalton for O Greenan (12min, inj); Garreth Doyle for S Odlum (52min); Ger Sinnott for J Heffernan