Dunlavin win a tough battle

Nightmare for Kilmac men

DUNLAVIN KILMACANOGUE 1-09 0-04

LET’S be clear: this was a poor game of football. A really poor game of football.

It was three points to two at half-time to Kilmacanogue in an extremely defensive game. Kilmacanogue employed a couple of sweepers, Aaron Creavin was stationed about 30 metres from his own goal and Stephen Morgan a few yards in front of him while other players were funnelling back too.

Dunlavin’s corner-forwards Cian O’Sullivan and James Walsh couldn’t move without bumping into a Kilmacanogue player.

Sweepers are fine. They usually don’t provide the most exciting of games but they’re no worse than some of the GAA Gold matches that are on TG4 from years ago where it was catch the ball and kick it.

Tactical innovation is a wonderful addition to the sport and seeing how Dublin plot their course against Tyrone in a couple of weeks will be fascinating. That’s when it’s done well, though.

Kilmacanogue were very good defensively, especially in the first half. In the first ten minutes Dunlavin couldn’t pass the ball to anyone in the Kilmacanogue 45, it was cut out or won back by some good tackling. In attack, they made some early hay, scoring two points in the opening five minutes.

They also created a few goal chances, Niall Meldon couldn’t hold one ball while Thomas Kelly, who had a wonderful game as the gatekeeper for Dunlavin, made an important interception for another.

That early promise quickly turned to nothing when Dunlavin forged a foothold around midfield and took control of possession. They would move forward where they were met by 9, 10 or 11 Kilmacanogue players and they would either turn back around or cough up possession. If a Kilmacanogue man won the ball back his teammates were either beside or behind him and the couple at the opposite end of the field were outnumbered.

That’s how the next 20 minutes unfolded, Dunlavin bring it forward, lose it, Kilmacanogue kick it back to them. And repeat. Sometimes a Dunlavin player might take a shot to change the record, it was usually under pressure and would go wide.

Cian O’Sullivan and Gary Allen were the only two players to break up this pattern of play, O’Sullivan converted a free in the 14th minute while five minutes later Allen foraged his way through the parish of Kilmacanogue, or at least four of them anyway, to kick a brilliant individual point.

It took another 11 minutes for another score, Aaron Creavin coming up to convert a free. Five scores in half an hour of football, it won’t go down in the annals of history as a classic.

And listen, it wasn’t as if Kilmacanogue were the team to solely blame. They set up in a certain way, it’s up to Dunlavin to break them down. They couldn’t and like Ned’s parents in The Simpsons they tried nothing and were all out of ideas, man. No player appeared to run hard at the first line of defence to create an opening for a teammate to run off the shoulder. Everything was slow, standing around midfield assessing their options before passing to the man beside them. There was no pace, no urgency, nothing to take the Kilmacanogue players out of their position.

The second half started the same way, with the added ingredient of poor passing. Gary Allen kicked it to a Kilmacanogue player ten yards away and earned a yellow card for his troubles when he committed a frustrated foul.

There were a couple of wides before Thomas Davis converted a free after Andrew Molloy dragged him down to level the game. Then excitement levels rose as some off the ball activity saw players pile in together and a few people in the crowd awoke from their snooze.

Allen and Gavan Burke engaged in some wrestling as the other players piled in. When the dust had settled and Anthony Nolan had consulted his linesmen Burke received a yellow while Allen and Kilmacanogue’s Niall Meldon were given straight reds. Davis converted his second free of the evening at the same time to give Dunlavin the lead for the first time.

He added two more by the 49th minute and it was 6-3. Not the biggest lead ever but in the context of this game it was the size of the Grand Canyon. When fellow substitute Marty Caplis capitalised on a Daryl Tighe mistake five minutes later and made it 1-06 to 3 that was it. Just before Caplis’ goal Kilmacanogue’s Simon Doyle was also sent off on a straight red.

There was not much more to report on after that other than a couple of Kilmacanogue players went off with serious looking injuries near the end and hopefully they’re not too bad.

This puts Kilmacanogue out of the championship. In a couple of weeks they play Ballinacor in the final group match. If Ballinacor win they join Rathnew and Ballymanus in the quarter final at Dunlavin’s expense. If Ballinacor draw or lose Dunlavin qualify for the quarter final.

Scorers – Dunlavin: Thomas Davis (4f) 0-05; Marty Caplis 1-00; Cian O’Sullivan (f), Tom McGuirk (45), Gary Allen, James Walsh 0-01 each.

Kilmacanogue: Aaron Creavin (2f) 0-02; Niall Meldon, Kevin Redden 0-01 each.

Dunlavin: Tom McGuirk; Thomas Whelan, Thomas Kelly, Louis Caplis; Daryl Huntley, Eoin Murtagh, Alan O’Sullivan; Aaron Phelan, Paul Murtagh; Shane Carty, Daniel Dawson, Fionn Deegan; Cian O’Sullivan, Gary Allen, James Walsh. Subs: Mark Rigley for Alan O’Sullivan (HT); Thomas Davis for Daniel Dawson (35 mins); Marty Caplis for Cian O’Sullivan (47 mins); Harry Coleborn for Louis Caplis, Barry Miley for Mark Rigley (both 61 mins).

Kilmacanogue: Daryl Tighe; Paddy O’Donnell, Bob O’Donnell, Cian Rafferty; Craig O’Neill, Gavan Burke, Marcus Rafferty; Andrew Molloy, Robert Conan; Niall Meldon, Simon Doyle, Michael Whelan; Aaron Creavin, Kevin Redden, Stephen Morgan. Subs: Conor Finn for Andrew Molloy (40 mins, BC); Aaron Brady for Marcus Rafferty, Garreth Kelly for Daryl Tighe (both 58 mins, both injured); Joe Molloy for Craig O’Neill (60 mins).

Referee: Anthony Nolan (Balt-