Baltinglass prove ruthless against the Dwyers
BALTINGLASS MICHAEL DWYERS 4-22 0-6
BALTINGLASS put in a superb display in the opening round of the new Under-20 Football Championship when they took Michael Dwyers apart on Sunday morning last.
This Baltinglass side laid down a huge marker for the rest of the clubs in the county going into the next rounds. Huge performances from Adam McHugh, Sean Doody and Johnny Keogh laid the platform for this convincing win.
Sean Doody got the home side off to a good start with a point within the opening minute.
The opening stages of the game was very much a cat and mouse affair as Dwyers were matching their counterparts with some good fielding from Padraig O’Toole and Ross Coogan.
Dwyers full-back Brian Kearney was cutting out a lot of Baltinglass play in his full-back line. Adam McHugh landed his first score of the game from a placed ball in the fourth minute.
Colin Byrne got Dwyers off the mark with a mighty point in the sixth minute, in a tight start to the game. Both number nines received yellow cards for acting the clown from the Hollywood official.
Johnny Keogh doubled the Baltinglass lead with another point in the next attack.
Padraig O’Toole cursed his luck, when after a penetrating run through, his effort crashed back out off the upright and was cleared.
Alan Barrett pointed to close out the opening quarter with Baltinglass leading 0-4 to 0-1, not even at this stage could one imagine how Baltinglass would power on to such a facile victory.
However, Dwyers found it tough to engineer any space against a marauding opponent as Baltinglass rose up a gear.
Adam McHugh added two more points after some sublime passages of play from Jordan Deane and Sean Doody. Padraig O’Toole broke the stranglehold and fired over a beast of a point for Dwyers.
However, Doody dropped a long ball into Alan Barrett who fed Johnny Keogh who shot into the bottom right-hand corner for Baltinglass’ first major in the 20th minute.
Padraig O’Toole pointed after good work by Adam Wynne for what was Dwyers’ last score of the opening half.
Baltinglass tagged on five more points before the half-time whistle sounded with the scoreboard reading 1-11 to 0-3.
Full-back Darragh Doyle broke up the field and landed another point for the home side.
Cian Lee blazed a great goal chance wide as Baltinglass went for the jugular.
Jordan Deans won possession of the ball on his own 14-meter line and soloed the length of the field and fired over a monster of a point.
Ross Coogan pointed from a free after Cormac Byrne was fouled as he was bearing down on goal.
Daniel Kelly then landed Baltinglass’ second major in the next attack to kill off the game, with the scoreboard now reading 2-15 to 0-4, going into the final quarter.
Reid Byrne was battling hard along with Mark Murphy for Dwyers.
Mark Jackson split the posts from a 45 for the home side. Not to be outdone, Ross Coogan landed a monster 45 between the uprights for Dwyers up the other end.
Dwyers drifted out of the game in the closing stages and were put to the sword by an absolute exhibition of point taking by the home side, and a pair of goals for ace marksman Adam McHugh as the full-time whistle sounded.
There was one other fixture completed in the under-20 competition. Blessington defeated Naomh Eoin by 4-17 to 2-8. Luke O’Toole’s were due to play Éire Óg last night in Annacurra.
Scorers - Baltinglass: Adam McHugh 2-4 (1f), Jordan Deans 1-2, Daniel Kelly 1-1, Sean Doody 0-4, Johnny Keogh 0-4, Jack Fleming 0-2, Alan Barrett 0-1, Jason Sinnott 0-1, Darragh Doyle 0-1, Cian Lee 0-1, Mark Jackson 0-1 (45).
Michael Dwyers: Padraig O’Toole 0-2, Ross Coogan 0-2 (1f), Colin Byrne 0-1, Mark Murphy 0-1.
Baltinglass: Mark Jackson; Jason Steed, Darragh Doyle, Patrick Kirwan; Aaron Barett, Tadgh O Toole, Karl Furlong; Cian Lee, Sean Doody; Jordan Deans, Johnny Keogh, Daniel Kelly, Jason Sinnot, Alan Barrett. Subs: Wesley Balfe, Jack Fleming, Liam Fisher, Dino Marcu, Christopher Grimes.
Michael Dwyers: Daniel Twyford Troy; Aaron O’Neill, Brian Kearney, Jamie Daly; Colm Keogh, Ian Moore, Adam Wynne; Padraig O Toole, Ross Coogan; Tiernan Zadiel, Reid Byrne; Colin Byrne, Mark Murphy, Cormac Byrne. Sub: Niall Gartland.
Referee: Keith Peppard (Hollywood)