May 28, 2012

Kilconieron 0-15 Clarenbridge 0-11

Kilconieron overcame a dogged Clarenbridge outfit at Loughrea, the game was played in beautiful sunshine with temperatures in the region of 25 degrees. The ground was like a rock which meant that the pace of the ball was fast when it made contact with the earth. 

Kilconieron started with David Gannon filling the number 3 shirt in place of the injured Paul Plower. Padraig Burke made his intermediate championship debut at number 5 in place of the injured Sean Hickey and Aiden Duane made his return to the hurling field after a successful spell with the Loughrea rugby outfit. Paul Martyn filled in for Liam Cannon who has departed for the U.S.A. for the summer. 

The game itself proved to be entertaining to the degree that in between the whistle blowing of Michael Haverty, there was some smart hurling and link play from both sides. Kilconieron started proceedings with Kieran Murray pointing within the first minute from 30 metres. The bridge who were playing into a strong breeze responded through Michael Daly with a free after 4 minutes. Paul Martyn hit a good point a minute later following a good supply from Willie Lawless. Murray then pointed a free on 6 minutes. 

The next 7 minutes were filled with nearly's, a long ball from defence nearly put Paul Martyn through on goal but the combination of the hard ground and strong wind carried the ball over the end line and the chance was gone. Shane Caulfield and Paul Uniacke had efforts but missed the target. Murray pointed again from a free after 13 minutes to put Kill up by 4 to 1. Daly pointed again for the bridge and Brian Moran closed the gap to the minimum with another Bridge point. Kilconieron then hit three unanswered points through Ward, Caulfield and another from Paul Martyn to put four scores between the sides at 0-7 to 0-3 after 18 minutes. The Bridge took control of the remainder of the half with points on 22nd, 24th, 26th, 28th minutes. Two of these scores came directly out of errors in the Kilconieron defence. The first came from Paul Uniacke over carrying of the ball in his own half back line which Daly converted and the second from a quick puck out from Gerry smith which went straight to the number 18 who put it back over the goalies head. 

Kilconieron did hit two frees on the 23rd and 27th minutes through Kieran Murray to keep the advantage at half time on a score line of Kills 0-09 to the Bridge 0-07. 

The Bridge now playing with the wind for the second half closed the gap to one after a foul by Uniacke which earned him a yellow card in the process. Daly levelled the match on 35 minutes through another free from the 21 and then hit the lead on 40 minutes with another Daly score. The turning point of the game came then when Padraic Burke while clearing out of defence received a heavy challenge from the number 17 of Clarenbridge for which he received a yellow card. Burke shook off the injury and this seemed to rise the Kill team. Murray hit a good point to level matters before Aiden Duane got a monster point and all of a sudden the team were clicking. 

Colm Connaughton was fighting hard for possession but the referee was probably the only one in Loughrea that didn’t see the centre forward being consistently fouled by his marker. His efforts though, did create some space for his comrades over the remainder of the half. Murray took advantage of this space with another point to stretch the lead to two. On 26 minutes though, Paul Uniacke received his second yellow for a foul which led to another Daly point. One minute later and the number 17 for the Bridge followed Uniacke to the line with his second yellow. 

Murray added two more points before John Plower wrapped up the match with a sensible tap over to secure the points for Kilconieron. The match will be a good learner for Kilconieron with the team settling more as the game progressed and then getting stronger as the game finished out. Good performances from Egan, Lawless, Ward, Murray, Martyn and Plower. The team was; G Smyth, C Smith. D Gannon, D Egan, P Burke, P Uniacke, W Lawless, D Ward, A Duane, P Tierney, C Connaughton, S Caulfield, K Murray, J Plower, P Martyn.

Intermediate team vs Clarenbridge: Front Row L-R. M Ryan, P Martyn, D Ward, P Tierney, K Murray, S Caulfield, P Plower, J Plower, C Brennan, K Martyn, C Dillon, G Smyth Back Row L-R. P McDonagh, F Carty, D Callanan, S Conway, D Gannon, D Ward, C Smyth, P Burke, C Connaughton, P Uniacke, A Duane, W Lawless, O Uniacke.