Kilcoole march on
Barndarrig next after Goosebank men beat Baltinglass
KILCOOLE put in a strong second half performance to seal their progression into the Boom Platform Hire Junior ‘A’ championship semi-final and set up a showdown with Barndarrig.
On Sunday afternoon last they proved too strong for Baltinglass. Jack Timmins opened the scoring with a pointed free for the west side after good work by Tommy Cullen.
Daniel Kavanagh levelled matters in the next attack before Matt Gilbert pointed a free to put Kilcoole in front.
This was a tight, cagey affair with both defences on top in the opening half, as we had no score between the 8th and 24th minute in a scrappy half with each side quilty of turning the ball over on far too many occassions.
Kilcoole lost Eoin O’Brien on a harsh black card call, before Jack Bellamy escaped with a yellow, for a pull-down moments later. Jack Timmins levelled the game from the resultant free.
A great break up the field by Ronan Keddy, who finished the ball over the black spot, put Kilcoole back in front.
James Quinn made a trademark drive up the pitch and was fouled; Jack Timmins landed his third pointed free to restore parity once again.
Daniel Kavanagh was off target with two frees before Matt Gilbert pointed in injury time as the halftime whistle sounded with Kilcoole leading by 0-4 to 0-3.
Tadgh O’Toole landed a mon- ster of a point for Baltinglass on the restart to level yet again, after a wayward free was turned over by Kilcoole out on the sideline.
It would be another 20 minutes before Baltinglass raised another flag as Kilcoole hit a purple patch, controlling the next period and adding on five unanswered points.
Kilcoole were dealt a blow after they lost Jack Bell amy to a black card and after some deliberation between the linesman and referee, a red followed, as the number nine had been booked in the opening half. James Quinn cannoned a shot of the Kilcoole crossbar in the next attack, however the danger was cleared to close out the third quarter with the score reading 0-9 to 0-4 in favour of the east coast side with points from Daniel Kavanagh.
Baltinglass battled away and were unlucky not to win a penalty for an apparent foot block in the next attack as steps was the call by the referee.
Both sides brought on a couple of fresh legs. Ross Nolan pointed for Baltinglass to cut the defecit to five with 51 minutes on the clock.
Luke Evans was having a powerful game for Kilcoole, winning lots of ball.
Ronan Keddy fielded a mark and played in a sweet pass to Matt Gilbert who split the posts, to raise another white flag for Kilcoole.
Kilcoole controlled out the remainder of the game as Baltinglass lost two players, on second yellow-card offences in quick succession.
Declan Roper fired over two long-range points to close out the scoring for Kilcoole to progress to the semi-finals where they will meet the men of Barndarrig.
Scorers - Kilcoole: Matt Gilbert 0-5 (2f), Daniel Kavanagh 0-4 (2f), Declan Roper 0-2, Ronan Keddy 0-1, Vinny Quigley 0-1, Eoin Keddy 0-1.
Baltinglass: Jack Timmins 0-3 (3f), Ross Nolan 0-1, Tadgh O Toole 0-1.
Kilcoole: Glen Tighe; Luke Reilly, Matthew Mannix, Keith Reylonds ; Dara Keddy, Colm McGovern , Peter O’Brien; Ronan Keddy, Jack Bellamy; Eoin Keddy, Eoin O’Brien, Luke Evans; Matthew Gilbert, Daniel Kavanagh, Vincent Quigley. Subs: Declan Roper, Cormac Byrne, Lee Dutton, Eoin Hanney.
Baltinglass: William Hanlon; Fabian Dunne, James Keane, Karl Furlong; Micheal Dowling, Tommy Cullen, James Tyrrell; Tommy Murphy, Jamie McTiernan; James Quinn, Tadgh O’Toole, Robin Farrell; Jack Timmons, Mark Ashton, Jason Sinnott. Subs: Ross Nolan, Paudie Swinburne, Niall Kirwan.
Referee: John Whyte (Donard-The Glen)