KILCOOLE POWER ON
‘Goosebankers’ have too much for Valleymount
KILCOOLE VALLEYMOUNT 3-15 1-7
KILCOOLE won their way through to the last four of the Junior ‘C’ football championship with a victory over Valleymount last Thursday evening in Ballinakill.
The ‘Goosebankers’ got a far tougher test than the final score would suggest as Valleymount kept playing right to the final whistle refusing to give up at any stage in this game.
They finished strongly and such was their pressure on the Kilcoole goal that Kilcoole lost two of their best players on the night in Conor O’Toole and Gerry Murray from the heart of their defence with both picking up second yellow cards in the final minutes as Valleymount frantically pressed for the goals they needed to turn things around.
Davy Miley opened the scoring from a difficult free for Valleymount in the sixth minute and then Conor Scullion took over. The Kilcoole number 12 hit a goal and a point before setting Gary Coady up for a fine point.
Scullion was causing all sorts of problems running at the Valleymount backs with Philip Brien and Darren Burke dominant in the middle. Jason Walsh pointed after a quick free from Jordan Murray before Kilcoole won a penalty.
A fine run from Jim Keddy found Barry Doyle inside the Valleymount defence and he was grounded. Jason Walsh made no mistake with a left-footed bomb to the corner.
Gerry Murray kicked the next score which drew plenty of noise from the Kilcoole following after a fine run forward. It was now 2-4 to 0-1 with 17 minutes played.
Valleymount won a penalty of their own in the 24th minute when sub Sean Geoghegan was felled and Davy Miley made no mistake with his shot.
It was a temporary reprieve; Jordan Murray, Gary Coady, Scullion again and Barry Doyle closed out the scoring and Kilcoole led 2-8 to 1-1 at the break.
Valleymount started the second half much better and kicked the opening point through Diarmuid Nugent.
Their lacklustre start to the first half could have been due to the fact of many of their players arrived late after encountering some problems crossing the Wicklow Gap in the shape of some wayward Deer. Conor Scullion replied and Jamie Murray fisted over another and Kilcoole now led 2-10 to 1-2 after 40 minutes.
Jordan Murray and Jason Walsh kicked two left-footed beauties before sub Glen Dunne got in on the Kilcoole scoring act.
Valleymount kept plugging away and had a couple of goal chances repelled by Conor Murphy O’Toole who was excellent all night at full-back.
Andy Farrington and Adam Condon had Valleymount points with Condon’s effort going over after a fine save from Josh Murray in the Kilcoole goal and Farrington’s effort just scraping the crossbar. Davy Miley swung one over with his left boot and the gap was now 2-13 to 1-6.
Kilcoole settled after the two red cards in quick succession and shot another goal at the death from the dangerous Jordan Murray and a point from Chris Carroll to give the final score an unfair look.
Valleymount will be happy with the efforts of their second team in 2018 despite this defeat.
They played all their league fixtures, winning their section of West Division 4 in to the bargain.
Kilcoole will provide a stern test for Donard-The Glen in the semi-final with a nice balance to their team and some dangerous forward players in the ranks, although, their tally of twelve wides would be a concern for their management.
– Kilcoole: Gerry Murray 0-1, Chris Carroll 0-1, Jordan Murray 1-2 (1f), Gary Coady 0-2, Conor Scullion 1-3; Jamie Murray 0-1, Jason Walsh 1-2 (1-0p), Barry Doyle 0-2, Glenn Dunne 0-1.
Scorers
Valleymount: Johnny Cahill 0-1, David Richardson 0-1, Adam Condon 0-1, Diarmuid Nugent 0-1, Andy Farrington 0-1, David Miley 1-2 (1p, 1f).
Josh Murray; Jim Keddy, Conor Murphy O’Toole, Jonathan Maguire; James Scullion, Gerry Murray, Chris Carroll; Philip Brien, Darren Burke; Jordan Murray, Gary Coady, Conor Scullion; Jamie Murray, Jason Walsh, Barry Doyle. Subs: Glenn Dunne for Coady, Shane Evans for Brien.
Conor Harpur; Darragh Callaghan, Aidan Miley, Aidan Condon; Johnny Cahill, Eamon Mahon, David Richardson; Adam Condon, Diarmuid Nugent; Andy Farrington, Amby Miley, Conor Ryan; Gary Geoghegan, David Miley, James Clarke. Subs: Sean Geoghegan for Clarke, Paul Carroll for Ryan, Jamie Clarke for Farrington, David Miley for Gary Geoghegan.
Eamon Doyle (Kiltegan)
Kilcoole: Valleymount: Referee: