Kilcoole march on
Goosebankers draw Blessington in quarter-finals
KILCOOLE had inspired performances from Tristan Grant, Tyrone Houlihan, and Jonathan Maguire to thank as they survived a second-half rally from Valleymount to advance to the quarter-finals of the Junior C’ football championship, despite an uneven, nervy showing.
The 2019 finalists seemed to be on the right track at half-time, thanks to a clinical, methodical showing up front that culminated in the reliable Patrick Woods nailing 1-4 from a total of 1-6. The second half was much the opposite, as Valleymount responded with a pair of goals from Gary Walsh to set up a grand-stand finish. Kilcoole were able to survive the final moments to book their place in the last-eight.
A last-chance, quarter-final playoff is not where Kilcoole will have wanted to be just a year after they made it all the way to the Junior ‘C’ final, ultimately falling to St. Pat’s. However, a disappointing run in the group stages that saw them record just one win and two defeats left them in this position.
The message from management prior to Thursday evening’s do-or-die clash against Valleymount, in Ballinakill, was simple: lose here and there would be no more football until the new year. With that sense of urgency instilled, Kilcoole started the game with intent. The lively Patrick Woods put them in front inside the first minute, while further scores from Woods and the authoritative Colm McGover further built on the bright start.
On the flip side, Aidan Condon split the posts for Valleymount, but that would be the only score that would come from any of their full-forwards. A lot of the credit for
that goes to Jonathan Maguire and the magnificent Tristan Grant, who smothered their counterparts for the entirety of the 60 minutes.
While the Valleymount forwards were desperately struggling to escape their markers – Gary Walsh vs Tyrone Houlihan was quite the compelling viewing – Kilcoole were having no such problems at the other end. On 11 minutes, they had their first goal of the day. Valleymount inexplicably wasted the opportunity to clear the ball from a free, allowing Eoin O’Brien the room to find Patrick Woods, who made no mistake in dispatching into the back of the net.
Valleymount were finding it impossible to live with Kilcoole’s tempo and intensity. Conor Murphy Toole almost doubled their goal tally shortly after the first, only
to be denied by a Conor Harper; Darren Bourke stroked over the resulting 45.
Valleymount did manage to grow into the game as the half progressed, but were found wanting when opportunities came. Gary Walsh put two shots wide of the upright before Padraig Keogh very nearly scored a goal for the losing team, only for Darren Bourke to hound him into putting a shot wide. Up the other end, Woods would have given Kilcoole a second goal, only for Conor Harper to pull off a terrific save to deny him, as Kilcoole went into the break 1-7 to 0-4 to the good.
The first-half demonstrated what Kilcoole could do when they played their game. The second-half felt like a display that was plagued by a fear of throwing the
game away, as they sank back into their shells and allowed Valleymount back into proceedings.
With just eight minutes gone in the second-half, Gary Walsh injected some uncertainty into the game when he feigned advancing down the outside before checking back inside and stroking the ball home with his left foot. In truth, anything positive that came from Valleymount, came through Walsh, who was a rare source of composure high up the field.
Kilcoole responded well through a Brian Devereux goal to widen the gap to 2-8 to 1-5. But it was Valleymount who were well and truly in the ascendancy. Unfortunately, while they were able to give themselves a fighting chance through points from Gary Walsh (three) and David
Miley, they were frustrated by a determined Kilcoole rearguard. Shay Geoghegan’s goalbound effort in the final few minutes was fabulously saved to his right by Luke Doyle, The follow-up was diverted towards goal by David Miley, only for Tristan Grant to be typically well-positioned to clear the ball away.
Kilcoole, meanwhile, probably should have scored their own third goal, only for Patrick Woods to put the ball wide of the right-hand post with Conor Murphy Toole available. Valleymount did manage to throw the cat amongst the pigeons in injury-time when Gary Walsh delicately lobbed the ball over Luke Doyle, but it was too little, too late, as Kilcoole hung on to make the quarter-finals by the slimmest of margins.
Full quarter-final draw:
Kil
coole v Blessington, Aughrim v Barndarrig, An Tochar v Kiltegan and Donard-The Glen v Tinahely. KIICOOLE: Luke Doyle; Ronan Whiston, Jonathan Maguire, Tristan Grant; Darren Bourke (0-1 45’), Tyrone Houlihan (0-1), Evan Vines; John Dunning, Colm McGovern (0-1); Brian Devereux (1-0), Kris Farrell, James Scullion; Patrick Woods (1-4), Conor Murphy Toole, Eoin O’Brien (0-1). Subs: Kevin Condon (0-1) for J. Scullion (35), Fionn Mansfield for E. O’Brien (35), Conor Scullion (0-3, 2f) for C. Murphy Toole (43), Niall Smyth for T. Houlihan (50), Peter McKenna for K. Farrell (50).
Conor Harper; Breon Nugent, Darragh Browne, Paul Carroll; Cormac O’Connor, Aidan Miley (0-1), John Doyle; Diarmuid Nugent, Dylan Maguire; Shane Hughes (0-1), Gary Walsh (2-4, 2f), Shay Geoghegan (0-1); Aidan Condon (0-1), Declan Riley, Padraig Keogh. Subs: Ruairi Nugent (0-1) for P. Keogh (30+2), David Miley (0-1) for D. Riley (45), Kevin Hughes for S. Hughes (52), Padraig Keogh for B. Nugent.
Hugh Murphy (Ballymun)