Hard-fought win for Shamrocks

Kilrush Shamrocks 1-10   Shannon Gaels 1-7 (AET)

KILRUSH had a hard-fought extra-time victory against Shannon Gaels at a dank Cooraclare last Friday night, outscoring their opponents by 0-3 to 0-0 in the additional 20 minutes.

Afterwards, manager Aidan Moloney felt they deserved to go through. “As the game went on, I think we were the stronger team and we probably created more chances. Fair play to the Gaels, they hung in there and battled well to stay with us. Up to full time, I thought we had the better chances and didn’t convert a lot of them and that brought it to extra-time. But in extra time I think we showed there is a bit of bottle in these boys and the older and younger fellas worked hard together.”
Peter O’Connell of Shannon Gaels rued some of the chances missed by his charges in the first-half but acknowledged the Shamrocks had dominated extra time. “We had chances early in the game, we even had a goal chance in the first few minutes and if we’d taken those. it would probably have put us in a better position but we didn’t. We got the goal at the start of the second half. Kilrush responded well to that. We came back well after their goal but in extra time they had the legs on us.”
The first half was largely a turgid affair, ending at just 0-2 apiece. The Gaels had more chances but kicked eight wides over the 30 minutes.
They started best with two early attacks while John Paul O’Neill missed a goal chance inside the first three minutes. They were also first on the board when John Bermingham pointed in the fifth minute.
Throughout the game, Kilrush tried to work the ball to the pacy Ruaidhri O’Connor and he got his side’s first score after 13 minutes, although it seemed that the two umpires weren’t too sure.
A mistake by Tomás Cleary led to Kilrush’s second point from a free, while Michael Coughlan had the fourth and final point of the half with still over 10 minutes to play.
While the first half had been largely uneventful, the second half stormed into life when Pádraig Neylon sent a powerful shot across Tony Burke into the corner of the net, to leave Shannon Gaels ahead, 1-2 to 0-2. He followed it up with a point moments later, to open up a four-point gap and it looked like this burst might prove decisive.
However, Kilrush hit back with a point from O’Connor in the fifth minute, followed by two pointed frees from Jim Young, who came into his own from half-time onwards.
Indeed, it was Young who had the Kilrush goal that put his side back in front. While the Kilrush attempts to work the ball to O’Connor were often predictable, in the 15th minute the tactic proved effective, in a roundabout way. Backs swarmed towards him as he had the ball in the right corner but a well-placed pass found Owen Tarrant in some space. His attempt for a point struck a post but the rebound fell nicely for Young, who had an easy task to find the net.
The Gaels had rested on their laurels a little after their own goal but finding themselves two points behind, they had little option but to push forward again. They drew level when Brian Cunningham got two points, one from play and one from a free, in the 19th and 20th minutes. They then took the lead after a fine score from Pádraig Neylon with just over eight minutes to go.
However, Kilrush were soon back on level terms. A powerful run by wing-back Conor O’Brien ended after he was tackled about 20 metres from goal but the loose ball fell to David O’Shea, who pointed, leaving the scores tied at 1-6 apiece.
With 40 seconds of normal time left, Darragh Bolton rounded off a fine move, putting Kilrush a point up and it looked as if it would be enough. However, with a minute of injury time gone, a move that also involved Noel Kennedy and Pádraig Neylon ended with a Shane Tubridy point.
Late on, Kilrush had a chance to win it, as Darragh Bolton made a great run through the Gaels’ cover before laying off to Niall Clancy. It briefly looked as if there was a goal chance but he was closed down quickly and the ball rolled out wide. The Kilrush men protested he had been fouled but no free was awarded.
The lights were turned on for extra time and defences were on top for much of the first half. Young had the only point of the first period, fisting over the bar.
In the second period the Gaels were under the cosh but there was some very bad shooting from Kilrush, with four wides over the course of the 10 minutes. However, they also had points from David O’Shea and Young, which made the victory safe. The Gaels did mount one last-ditch attack looking for the goal that could force a replay but it never looked likely and Kilrush advanced.
On the day, the winners were well served by Jim Young, Donal O’Sullivan and Ruaidhri O’Connor. For the Gaels, Pádraig Neylon and Tomás Cleary did well while Noel Kennedy had a good first half and Brian Cunningham had his moments.

Kilrush Shamrocks: Tony Burke; Cathal Lyons, Chris Dixon, Niall Gilbride; Conor O’Brien, Matthew Moloney, John Hayes; Donal O’Sullivan, Jim Young; Stephen Sweeney, Padjoe McGrath, Darragh Bolton; Ruaidhri O’Connor, Owen Tarrant, Peadar McMahon.
Subs: David O’Shea for Padjoe McGrath, Niall Clancy for Steve Sweeney, Calum Bond for Darragh Bolton and Niall Brennan for Conor O’Brien.
Frees for: 24; wides: 12; 45s: 1
Scorers: Jim Young (1-4, 3f), David O’Shea, Ruaidhri O’Connor (both 0-2), Darragh Bolton (0-1), Padjoe McGrath (0-1f).

Shannon Gaels: Keith Ryan; Micheál Lorigan, John Neylon, Tomas Madigan; Tomas Cleary, Brian Bermingham, Francis Cleary; Michael O’Donoghue, Noel Kennedy; Brian Cunningham, John Bermingham, Michael Coughlan; John Paul O’Neill, Pádraig Neylon, Mark Bohannon.
Subs: Shane Tubridy for Bohannon, Nigel Hehir for Brian Cunningham, Declan Pyne for Brian Bermingham, David Neylon for John Paul O’Neill.
Scorers: Pádraig Neylon (1-2), Brian Cunningham (0-2, 1f), John Bermingham, Michael Coughlan, Shane Tubridy (0-1).
Frees for: 22; wides: 10; 45’s: 3
Yellow cards: Brian Cunningham, John Bermingham.

Referee: Barry Kelly, Miltown