Avondale prevail
Manley’s 1-3 against Lacken-Kilbride sends ’Dales to semi-final
AVONDALE LACKEN-KILBRIDE
AVONDALE have advanced to the semi-finals of the Junior ‘B’ football championship, after overcoming the challenge of a toothless Lacken-Kilbride on a wet, windy, and miserable Thursday evening in Ballinakill.
In a wind-swept, rain-soaked, error-strewn contest, Avondale spent much of the runtime well on top of their outmatched opponents, but only led by the slenderest of margins at half-time. Avondale did manage to pull away in the second-half, however, courtesy of a well-taken goal from the industrious Jack Manley.
Even before the game was bogged down by a torrential downpour that took hold near the end of the first-half, conditions didn’t lend themselves to a pulsating game of football. A chilly wind that blew cross the field stipulated that what would unfold would not be one for the purists.
That was made evident as both sides started slowly and were guilty of some sloppy handling throughout. It took five minutes for Avondale to take the lead through Donal McGraynor, before Jack Manley, a consistent source of quality in a game that sorely lacked it, unleashed an arrow of a strike with his right foot that flew over the bar.
While Avondale were slowly getting into the game and moving the ball across the field in search of space, Lacken-Kilbride were oth
erwise lacklustre with ball in hand; often being forced into sending hopeful long kicks up the pitch to Sean Murphy or Conor McNamara due to the Avondale high press, at which point the ball was handily reclaimed by the ‘Dales.
Even so, it took another 15
minutes for the next significant opening for either team. With the dark clouds looming overhead, Seamus McGraynor rose well to claim a mark from a Lacken-Kilbride kick-out, before finding his namesake, Donal, down the lefthand side, who then sent the
onrushing Cian Ward in on goal, only for his shot across goal to bounce back off the post.
Avondale lost Michael O’Dea to a shoulder injury eight minutes before the end of the first-half as the heavens opened. This did not deter the leaders, however, as Jack
Manley and Seamus McGraynor stepped up to give them a 0-4 to 0-0 lead. They were well in control but weren’t making it show on the scoreboard, as their cautious approach and subsequent lack of supportive runners off the shoulders of the man on the ball meant they were often playing in front of Lacken-Kilbride.
It was appropriate, then, that Lacken-Kilbride, who had created little to nothing in the first-half, stunned Avondale with an injury-time goal. After Shane Byrne sloppily lost the ball in midfield, it was sent long up the middle of the park, looking for Conor McNamara. Full-back Kevin Sheehan misjudged the flight of the ball, missing it entirely and leaving McNamara to bear down on goal. He played a nice give-and-go with Eoin Keogh before dispatching the ball into he back of the net to leave the gap at the minimum at half-time.
In truth, despite the goal, Avondale were still well in charge, and it would have been their own fault and a catastrophe of their own making if they were to go on and lose. Instead, they turned the screw in the second-half, playing with more intensity and ambition to put the game away.
Seamus McGraynor got them underway with a point, before Ryan Kenny produced a good kick over the shoulder and between the posts. Lacken-Kilbride, who spent much of the second-half penned into their own half without the chance or ability to break out, got their second and last score of the day through Conor McNamara. Meanwhile, Avondale continued to push on. Cian Ward and Jack
Manley – two of Avondale’s brighter performers – got a point each before Donal McGraynor got their final point of the with a free just before the second-half water break.
The next ten or so minutes transpired without much in the way of incident. Avondale continued to enjoy most of the possession but were guilty of complacent handling. Lack-Kilbride, meanwhile, failed to convert what turnovers they made into significant counter-attacks.
Finally, with three minutes of the game left, Avondale got their goal, fittingly from Jack Manley. Eamon Kearns did well to weave past two men and past the 65-metre line, before then sending a high, hopeful ball towards the Manley. He did well to secure possession, turn, and smash a strike across Conor O’Toole and into the goalkeeper’s top right-hand corner.
That was all she wrote, as Avondale eased into the final four, where they will expect a stiffer challenge than that of Thursday night’s opposition.
AVONDALE: Danny Morley; Sean Kinsella, Kevin Sheehan, Aonghus O’Briain; Kieran Penn, Shane Byrne, Paul Gahan; Michael Sheehan, Seamus McGraynor (0-2); Ryan Kenny (0-1), Michael O’Dea, Cian Ward (0-1); Jack Manley (1-3), Donal McGraynor (0-2, 1f), Callum Persey. Subs: Eamonn Kearns for M. O’Dea (22), Roy Byrne for K. Sheehan (58), Kevin Fitzpatrick for P. Gahan (58), Anthony Byrne for R. Kenny (60). LACKEN-KILBRIDE: Conor O’Toole; Aaron Balfe, Kevin McLaughlin, Richard Ward; Charlie Clark, Martin Donahoe, Jordan Balfe; Simon Phibbs, Mick Byrne; Niall Keogh, Timmy Broe, David Balfe; Sean Murphy, Conor McNamara (1-1), Eoin Keogh. Subs: Finn Craul for N. Keogh (15), Daniel Van Alphen for S. Murphy (HT), Larry O’Connor for C. Clark (48). REFEREE: Darragh Byrne (Ballymanus).