Maher and Kealy
Dan Kearney got the thoughts of Kilcummin manager Willian Maher and goalkeeper Brendan Kealy after their emphatic Munster Club win last Sunday
MAIN MAN
Kilcummin dominated all over the pitch and were way ahead of their opponents in every position on the field. The real standouts were Philip Casey (first half), William Maher, Shane McSweeney and Gary O’Leary. Overall though, Noel Duggan was a real will o’the wisp at corner forward and showed a huge appetite for work, as well as finishing with an impressive 1-5.
KEY MOMENT
I suppose you could say that Noel Duggan’s goal just before half time was a turning point of sorts, but really Kilmacthomas never threatened at any stage to put in any meaningful challenge.
TALKING POINT
Can Kilcummin go out in two weeks time and claim the Munster title with victory over Fermoy? Kieran Murphy will have an extra two weeks of training and John McCarthy could also be back after illness. There is also a possibility of Kevin McCarthy togging out. Kilcummin have real strength in depth in their squad now, and will be in with a great chance of lifting the title.
KILCUMMIN manager Willie Maher was quietly satisfied with his side’s win, but felt that Kilmacthomas’ one week gap between their own Waterford championship final victory and the Munster semi-final game may have come against them.
“Kilmacthomas only had a week to prepare and it’s their first time back senior after winning the Waterford intermediate in a good while so it’s not easy to turn around and play a game a week later,” Maher generously said. “I suppose our goal before half time killed off the game really like you know, we were struggling to get scores early on and Kilmacthomas were playing with a fair intensity but after the goal we seemed to get a bit of extra space in the second half. The intensity wasn’t as high.”
Maher felt that his sides shot selection was poor, particularly when Kilmacthomas had a lot of bodies back in defence. He said that it was something that they were working on at training though.
“They had a lot of players back, what team doesn’t now, so maybe we didn’t take the right shot options. It’s something that we have been doing a lot of work on all the year but I suppose it’s not until you come under pressure that you don’t know whether or which. As I said we were six or seven points up but when we got the goal then it helped. We kicked a good few wides all through, although the intensity died in the second half.”
Kilcummin were down a few players through illness and injury, but Maher was happy to see Kieran Murphy come on in the second half.
“It was good to see Kieran back. He was actually sick during the week so it was good to get some bit of game time into the legs. He’s just back from the hamstring but it was good to get 25 minutes under his belt today. John McCarthy was