THE SAINTS MARCH ON
Wicklow town side now face Glenealy in semi-final
ST. PATRICKS KILCOOLE 3-11 3-06
ST PAT’S sealed their place in the Intermediate hurling championship semi-final thanks to an adequate performance against a wasteful Kilcoole side in windy Ballinakill last Saturday evening.
The altogether more formidable outfit of Glenealy looms ahead of Michael Neary’s men in the last four battle with the prize on offer a meeting in the 2017 decider against either Carnew Emmets or Arklow Rocks with the Rocks being awarded a walk-over by Bray Emmets on Monday night last in their quarter-final.
Pat’s looked to have done enough by the break in Ballinakill when they led by 2-09 to 1-05 but credit to Kilcoole they battled bravely right to the end but in their hunt for goals they squandered some vital possessions at key moments in the second half.
It was an entertaining if low quality clash with some fine scores for both sides over the course of the hour.
James ‘Jimzer’ O’Brien had a fine game in patches and opened the scoring after 15 seconds with a sweet point.
The irrepressible Vinnie Quigley was prowling at full-forward for Kilcoole and a lovely wristy flick after five minutes sent the ball screaming into the corner of the Pat’s net to give the Goosebankers a flying start.
Kilcoole’s high would soon be downgraded when ‘Jimzer’ O’Brien was allowed waltx into the heart of their defence and float a dainty little ball into the back of their net 60 seconds after Kilcoole’s major and Pat’s were back on top at 1-01 to 1-00.
‘Micko’ O’Brien and Ronan Keddy swapped points as the action settled down to a fairly reasonable level and points from Fintan Donnelly and George O’Brien had the Wicklow town men ahead by 1-03 to 1-02 after 12 minutes.
But Pat’s took a major step in the right direction in the next few moments when clever support play from ‘Bonner’ O’Brien provided full-forward Georgew O’Brien with a chance and with a neat flick he had the ball in the back of Ryan Heffernan’s net for Pat’s second goal.
A strong finish to the first half with points from ‘Dee’ O’Brien (3), ‘Jimzer’ O’Brien, ‘Micko’ O’Brien, and ‘Bonner’ O’Brien left Pat’s looking healthy enough at 2-09 to 1-05 at the break.
Kilcoole needed to start registering scores immediately after the re-start but it took them until the 18th minute for Eoin Keddy to rattle the back of the net and they were trailing by 2-11 to 2-06 at this stage and had two wides and a number of quashed attacks to their credit.
Luke Evans pointed to leave four between the sides but with 25 minutes on the second half clock the ball fell to George O’Brien and in a flash he had Pat’s third goal to rock Kilcoole and more or less secure passage to the last four.
Kilcoole struggled on and the capable Ronan Keddy fired home for their third goal after 29 minutes but that would be as close as they would get as Pat’s finished out 3-11 to 3-06 winners to seal their date with Glenealy in the county semi-final.
Scorers – St Pat’s: James ‘Jimzer’ O’Brien 1-03, George O’Brien 2-01, John ‘ Dee’ O’Brien 0-03 (2f), James ‘Bonner’ O’Brien 0-02, Michael ‘Micko’ O’Brien 0-02.
Kilcoole: Ronan Keddy 1-01, Eoin Keddy 1-00, Vinnie Quigley 1-00, Jason Walsh 0-02, Fintan Donnelly 0-02, Luke Evans 0-01.