LAR THE STAR!

Ashford through to ‘C’ final

ASHFORD KILCOOLE 1-14 1-13

THERE was drama galore at the end of the second Junior ‘C’ football championship semi-final last week when Ashford survived a late Kilcoole burst to secure their place in the decider with a 1-14 to 1-13 victory over the men of Kilcoole.

The Ashford side can offer thanks to the goalkeeping skills of Lar Newsome after the netminder pulled off a quality save from a penalty from Kilcoole’s Robert Whelan with 27 minutes on the second half clock and the scores reading 1-14 to 1-12 in favour of the black and ambers.

Newsome saved but Kilcoole were savagely determined and fired over a point to leave just one between the sides and then they were presented with a tricky free which, unfortunately, drifted to the right and wide of the Ashford uprights and the chance of a draw was gone. Nobody (except Mick Hagan) would have minded seeing these two teams going at it again because this was a thoroughly enjoyable clash between two eager and committed outfits and, after this performance, Ashford will take some stopping in the decider.

An early Alex Ward goal got the Goosebank men off to a scorcher of a start at a calm Ballinakill as darkness descended on a pleasant Friday evening.

However, the Ashford men took control of proceedings shortly after this major and were soon 0-07 to 1-00 clear thanks to some really decent play all over the field.

They opened their account through an Adam Hill free and the half-forward would go on to have a very impressive evening. Hill was afforded the chance of a pop at goal thanks to the soccer skills of Danny Byrne who was named at full-forward but prowled in the corner. Byrne, who lifted the Wicklow Cup last year for Ashford Rovers, looked lethal once the right ball was played to him and on this occasion the ball beat his man Shane Evans and Byrne rampaged down on the Kilcoole goal wth the help of some dainty dribbling and as he got his shot off he was fouled.

Hill grabbed Ashford’s second, Trevor Conyard bombed over their third, Hill notched the fourth, Paul ‘Jack’ Conyard their fifth, Danny Byrne blazed over the sixth and Anthony Driver grabbed their seventh by the 18th minute in a period of complete control for the Ashford men.

Kilcoole rallied and thanks to Robert Whelan (2) and Conor Scullion they found themselves trailing only by two at 1-03 to 0-08 at the break.

The second half was a humdinger. Kilcoole closed to within one not long after the restart thanks to points from Dan Lacy and the excellent Robert Whelan in reply to a Jack Conyard bomb that narrowly avoided the Moon’s gravitational pull so high did it fly off the Ashford man’s boot.

And then Ashford got a major boost. A class delivery from Danny Byrne found the hand of Philip Doyle in front of the Kilcoole goal and he sent the ball home past Luke Doyle.

Robert Whelan and Jason Walsh helped the Kilcoole recovery and it was nip and tuck all the way to the end of the game where the score read 1-14 to 1-12 to Ashford with Kilcoole needing something special.

That something arrived through a marauding run from the impressive Patrick Woods who was felled by Séan Beale and Darragh Byrne held the arms aloft to signal the penalty. A chance!

Up stepped Whelan to face Newsome. Newsome stood big, cleverly emerged from his goal as Whelan began his run and got down smartly to parry the ball away from the goal.

A Scullion scorcher left one between the teams and the Kilcoole men were afforded one more chance when Robert Whelan was fouled by Beale. Whelan took the responsibility on but his effort out of the hands drifted wide.

Ashford attacked and Kilcoole did manage to win the ball back but they hacked the ball long rather than build through the hands and when Ashford regained possession Darragh Byrne sounded the full-time whistle at the end of a belter of a game of football.

Scorers – Ashford: Adam Hill 0-06 (3f), Philip Doyle 1-02, Trevor Conyard 0-02 (1f), Paul Conyard 0-02, Danny Byrne 0-01, Anthony Driver 0-01.

Kilcoole: Robert Whelan 0-05, Conor Scullion 0-03 (1f), Jason Walsh 0-03 (2f), Alex Ward 1-00, Dan Lacy 0-01, Philip Byrne 0-01.

Lar Newsome; Riain Dwyer, Kenneth O’Brien, Danny Turner; Conor Cunningham, Séan Beale, Conor Behan; Anthony Driver, Sean Duffy; Paul Conyard, Trevor Conyard, Adam Hill; Gary McGuire, Danny Byrne, Philip Doyle. Subs: Darren Doyle for G McGuire.

Luke Doyle; Darren Burke, Conor O’Neill, Shane Evans; James Scullion, Stephen Kelly, Killian Hannon; Philip Byrne, Patrick Woods; Alex Ward, Robert Whelan, Dan Lacy; Jamie Walsh, Jason Walsh, Conor Scullion. Subs: Chris Byrne for K Hannon.

Darragh Byrne