HAPPY HOLLYWOOD
Mick Murray’s men add to Kiltegan’s Division 1 woes
HOLLYWOOD KILTEGAN 1-9 1-6
WHEN these teams played last year in the corresponding fixture it couldn’t have been any more different than this weekend.
Back then the game was played on a day for ice-cream and the beach rather than the driving rain that would force anyone to contemplate emigration.
Back then Kiltegan had the luxury of kicking wide after wide and still win rather than Hollywood dominating the match, even if the score line doesn’t suggest it.
It took Kiltegan around sixteen minutes to win their first kick out, by which time Hollywood had 1-04 on the score board and failed to convert five more chances. Hollywood had the aid of the wind in the first half though it wasn’t particularly strong, Fergal Harmon’s kick outs didn’t hang in the air or fail to cross the 45 for example.
A few moments before that kick out encapsulated the difference between the teams entirely.
A Hollywood attack broke down and Kiltegan moved the ball forward to the midfield area. There they put together ten to fifteen passes, mainly hand passes, and barely got past the 65. Hollywood formed an impenetrable defensive wall and pulled a man back in a sweeper position to cut off a long kick pass.
Eventually possession was coughed up and a couple of passes later Thomas Burke had the ball over the bar for Hollywood.
Time after time Kiltegan attempted to build an attack from defence and time after time their inaccurate hand passing increased the pressure inside their 45 and almost let Hollywood in for a few more scores. When they resorted to hacking the ball away it was won by Hollywood to launch another attack.
The game started slowly, Tony Hannon’s free in the seventh minute cancelled out Seanie Furlong’s earlier effort. Hollywood won the resulting Kiltegan kick out and pounced for a goal, Matthew Kelly made an unmarked run in behind the defence and blasted the ball past Harmon.
They followed it with seven shots, only three of which they converted. Hannon added two frees either side of Burke’s point.
Kelly had another goal chance too but his shot was easily parried by Harmon. The chance came about when an errant hand pass from one Kiltegan player to another fell to the ground.
That appeared to spur Kiltegan into action and having only scored one point in twenty two minutes they added three more in the next five.
Padraig O’Toole injected some pace into an attack and was fouled for Cathal Fitzgerald to convert a difficult free. Anthony Furlong added the next one from play before brother Seanie kicked one from long distance to bring Kiltegan back within a goal, 1-04 to 4 points.
There was still time however for Hannon to kick another free before half time along with a couple of wides, bringing their wide total to six for the half and giving Kiltegan a faint sense of hope.
Hannon added his only point from play early in the second half to extend the lead to five but then Kiltegan hit a purple patch and created numerous chances. They just couldn’t take them. Three shots went wide before Seanie Furlong somehow kicked a point while off balance.
He converted his final free of the day in the 45th minute after another chance went wide to bring Kiltegan within a goal once again. Hollywood replied with a brace of points to extend the lead again, Thomas Burke and Hannon raising the white flags.
The game seemed to fizzle out as it entered the final ten minutes and everybody waited for the inevitable final whistle, Hollywood had a number of chances that went wide, including half a goal chance.
Furlong’s late goal reduced the deficit to two points and gave Kiltegan a small chance of a result but in reality it was merely a consolation as Michael Healy went up the field to kick the final point of the game.
Kiltegan remain rooted to the bottom of Division 1 while Hollywood ride high in third and another couple of wins will give them a great chance of
Scorers – Hollywood: Tony Hannon (5f) 0-06; Matthew Kelly 1-00; Thomas Burke 0-02; Michael Healy 0-01.
Kiltegan: Seanie Furlong (2f) 1-04; Cathal Fitzgerald (f), Anthony Furlong 0-01 each.
Liam Callanan; Shane Kelly, Harry Wilson, Eoin Burke; Conor Burke, Michael Healy, Robert Houlihan; Robert Kelly, Ciaran Tyrrell; Matthew Kelly, Niall Clarke, Keith Traynor; Thomas Burke, Tony Hannon, Sean O’Keeffe. Subs: Gareth Bell for Sean O’Keeffe (35 mins); Paul Kelly for Gareth Bell (41 mins).
Fergal Harmon; Colm Keogh, Bryan Kearney, John Farrell; Adam Wynne, Stephen Farrell, Liam Keogh; Padraig O’Toole, Jacko Dalton; Aaron Byrne, Seanie Furlong, Cathal Fitzgerald; Steven Coogan, Rory Finn, Anthony Furlong. Subs: Fautas for Rory Finn (18 mins, inj.); Jamie Daly for Adam Wynne (27 mins, inj.); Daniel Troy for Steven Coogan (49 mins).
Brendan Furlong
HOW THEY STAND
PW D L F A D Pt Team
Rathnew 4 4 0 0 59 28 31 8 St Patrick’s 5 3 1 1 57 46 11 7 Hollywood 6 3 1 2 76 71 57 Bray 6 3 0 3 80 84 -4 6 Baltinglass 7 2 1 4 91 103 -12 5 Blessington 5 2 0 3 59 63 -4 4 Dunlavin 51 1 3 55 64 -9 3 Kiltegan 41 0 3 36 54 -18 2