First win for productive Éire Óg men

ÉIRE ÓG KILTEGAN 2-18 0-16

ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES took the spoils from this Round 3 clash in the Dacia Senior Hurling Championship when they made the journey to Blessington to face Kiltegan.

Kiltegan suffered a blow early on when they lost corner-back Ciaran Doyle in the warm up. Nigel Byrne was his late replacement for the throw-in whereas Éire Óg were short the services of Stephen Kelly and Anthony Byrne through injuries.

Éire Óg, who didn’t use any subs in this game, enjoyed a positive start and were far more productive with their scoring chances and landed two killer blows of goals either side of the half-time break.

These two majors proved to be the difference between the two well-balanced sides in a highly sporting game played out pleasant sunny conditions.

James Cranley landed the opening point for the east coast side in the fourth minute after both sides traded a couple of bad wides early on.

Cranley, who was in fine form throughout the evening, landed another brace of points.

Kiltegan’s Jonathan Tallon turned over an Éire Óg clearance and laid off to Seanie Germaine who got the west men on the board with a point in the eighth minute.

Rory Finn slowed down the Greystones dominance around the centre with a couple of good catches and launched plenty of attacks, but the inside forward line could not convert it into much needed scores.

Dan O’Neill drew a point blank save from a Seanie Germaine rasper in the next attack. Sharpshooter, James Cranley pointed from a free before Peter Keane landed a monster of a point from 70 meters out the field to close out the first quarter with the scoreboard reading 0-5 to 0-1 in favour of Greystones side.

A trio of unanswered points followed for Éire Óg, with the pick of them from Cranley, out on the sideline, from the 14-meter line, he split the posts. Towering full-forward Andy Walsh was doing untold damage in the Kiltegan defence all throughout the game.

The giant of a target man hit his first score of the game with a sweet overhead flick in the 20th minute.

Again, with superb work from Rory Finn and Ronan Byrne, Kiltegan rose up a gear and hit back with three points on the bounce, one each from Padraig Byrne and Padraig O’Toole, with Rory Finn splitting the Greystones defence wide open with a solo run and he finished the size five sliotar over the crossbar with his boot to leave it a three-point game.

When Jonathan Tallon rifled over a long-range point to leave the deficit at two points, it looked game on. However, Éire Óg responded with a sweet point from Andy Walsh followed by another from Brian Lawless.

Aaron Byrne dropped an effort short, Éire Óg cleared and swept up the field with Michael Walsh pulling the sliotar out of the sky and carving the Kiltegan defence open, popping off to Eoin Dorgan, who shook Daniel Troy’s net to finish off a blistering counter attack with 28 played in what turned out a crucial period of the game.

James Cranley pointed another placed ball from the carpet before Seanie Germaine replied with a point to end the first half with the score reading 1-12 to 0-07 in favour of Greystones side.

Padraig Byrne converted a beast from the 65m line for Kiltegan on the restart to give the west side a much-needed boost.

In the next attack, Peter Keane dropped a high ball into the danger zone where man-mountain Andy Walsh won and somehow dispatched it to the net for another crucial score in the 34th minute.

Éire Óg tagged on another brace of points from ‘Pooch’ Cranley, and a screamer of a point from the hurl of Kristin Flynn who was flying at this stage. Seanie Germaine slowed down the Éire Óg men somewhat with a smashing point from a 65 to close out the third quarter with the score 2-14 to 0-09. Nigel Byrne (Snr) brought on a couple of fresh legs for Kiltegan. Ronan Byrne made a darting run up the field and laid off to Steven Coogan who raised a white flag for the west side.

Quick puck-outs were a feature of Éire Og’s game and Kristin Flynn tagged on a point. The intensity of the game rose up a couple of notches with some heavy tackling by both sides as the Hollywood official seemed shy about using his whistle at times, great for the neutrals, but much to the disbelief of both management teams.

Mark Murphy and Padraig O’Toole, who battled hard for Kiltegan all evening, tagged on a point each.

Michael Walshe replied with a fine point for Éire Óg. Seanie Germaine landed his fifth and final point of the game in the 57th minute before James Cranley landed the N11 side’s 18th and final point in the next play.

Kiltegan pointed the last score of the game after the evergreen Geoffrey Bermingham broke through, clearing three defenders out of his way, then selling a dummy to another Éire Óg man, before the former county legend slotted the sliotar superbly over the black spot with fine aplomb for the final score of the evening.

Éire Óg will be delighted to get the two points on the league table to draw level with Kiltegan as we go into round four.

Next time out, Éire Óg meet Carnew, and Kiltegan face the reigning champions, Glenealy.

Scorers - Éire Óg: James Cranley 0-8 (3f), Andrew Walsh 1-2, Eoin Dorgan 1-0, Kristin Flynn 0-3, Michael Walsh 0-2, Peter Keane 0-1, Leon Browne 0-1, Brian Lawless 0-1.

Kiltegan: Seanie Germaine 0-5 (1f, 65), Padraig O’Toole 0-4, Padraig Byrne 0-2 (65), Steven Coogan 0-1, Rory Finn 0-1, Jonathan Tallon 0-1, Mark Murphy 0-1, Geoffrey Bermingham 0-1.

Dan O’Neill; Shaun Hughes, Michael Arrigan, Daniel O’Connor; Eoghan Potts, Billy Cuddihy, Kristin Flynn; Peter Keane, Conail Deeney; Leon Browne, Michael Walsh, Brian Lawless; James Cranley, Andrew Walsh, Eoin Dorgan.

Daniel Troy; Colm Keogh, Brian Carney, Nigel Byrne; James Coogan, Ronan Byrne, David Williamson; Rory Finn, Padraig Byrne; Aaron Byrne, Michael Mangan, Padraig O’Toole; Jonathan Tallon, Seanie Germaine, Steven Coogan. Subs: Mark Murphy, MJ Moran, Niall Gartland, Owen Coogan, Geoffrey Bermingham.

Declan Peppard (Hollywood)