Kilmurry-Ibrickane still in the race

Kilmurry-Ibrickane 1-7   Liscannor 1-6

CHAMPIONS Kilmurry-Ibrickane are still in the 2013 title race but came within a whisker of being dumped out of the competition at Hennessy Park in Miltown on Saturday.

It was a game Liscannor should have won. They dominated the exchanges for much of it but Kilmurry’s experience and their bigger panel saw them battle back in the closing stages to snatch victory.

“I am not a person that has ever criticised refs down through my career but today Rory Hickey has to ask himself what was he doing out there,” Liscannor manager Martin Guerin claimed.

“We had a couple in the scoring zone and he didn’t give them when they were clear frees; Kieran Considine and Alan Clohessy were pushed out over the line and he never game them”.

They were clearly disappointed. “That’s devastating. The lads put in a massive performance and were probably the better team on the day. In fairness to Kilmurry, they probably had fresher legs to bring on in the last five minutes and had a bit more quality to bring on than we had and that was decisive in the end. Best of luck to Kilmurry. They have been the kingpins over the last 10 years,” Liscannor manager Martin Guerin said.

A clearly relieved Kilmurry-Ibrickane boss, John Kennedy, admitted, “It was looking like we were doomed to go out of the championship. I have said several times before, these lads stood up when it seemed to be gone. We had some marvellous displays in the last 15 to 20 minutes. We made changes, Cookie [Mark McCarthy] came on and kicked three points, Niall Hickey made a big impact when he came on. People like Peter O’Dwyer, Michael O’Dwyer, Enda Coughlan and Noel Downes all lifted their game. The backs were superb.”

The Kerry man felt sorry for Liscannor. “It was there for them. We were fighting for our championship lives. We have a lot of improving to do.”

Among the talking points were the decisions to disallow a Liscannor point five minutes from time and the awarding of a penalty to Kilmurry five minutes into the second half. There is no argument that Kilmurry deserved a free but the dispute rages on if David McDonagh’s foul on Enda Coughlan was inside or outside the square.

That said, the Liscannor defence must take a lot of the blame, as they were slow in reacting when Noel Kilmartin saved Johnnie Daly’s attempt, allowing the experienced Kilmurry forward time to follow up and score the rebound, his team’s first score from play on the day.

Liscannor substitute James Considine was on the field little over a minute when he ran onto a Brian Considine delivery and fisted the ball over the bar. Referee Hickey consulted with his umpires before disallowing the score.

Enda Coughlan opened their scoring when he converted a 13m free in the third minute. Liscannor received a huge boost in the ninth minute when Alan Clohessy found the unmarked Ciarán Considine and blasted past Peter O’Dwyer Junior. Joe Considine landed a point at the midpoint of the half and two Alan Clohessy frees put Liscannor five clear after 21 minutes.

They went on to lead 1-4 to 0-2 at the break and it was clear that Kilmurry would have to improve a lot. They got a huge boost five minutes into the second half when Daly scored a goal but they didn’t score again until 10 minutes from the end. In the meantime, Clohessy converted another free for Liscannor to leave them four clear with just 10 minutes remaining.

In the ninth and 11th minutes, Niall Hickey and Mark McCarthy were introduced to the attack in place of Thomas O’Connor and Stephen Moloney. It is understood both Hickey and McCarthy were omitted from the starting line-up for a breach of discipline last week.

McCarthy kicked three points in the final quarter, the third of which levelled the game. Midfielder Peter O’Dwyer also kicked an important point. The winning score came from Noel Downes in the final minute of normal time.

Kilmurry-Ibrickane: Peter O’Dwyer Junior; Shane Hickey, Mark Killeen, Declan Callinan; Evan Talty, Paul O’Connor, Thomas Lernihan; Peter O’Dwyer, Keith King; Thomas O’Connor, Michael O’Dwyer, Stephen Moloney; Johnnie Daly, Enda Coughlan, Noel Downes.
Subs: Niall Hickey for T O’Connor (39 minutes), Mark McCarthy for Moloney (41 minutes) and John Sexton for S Hickey (inj, 50 minutes).
Scorers: Johnnie Daly (1-0), Mark McCarthy (0-3), Enda Coughlan (0-2), Peter O’Dwyer and Noel Downes (0-1 each).
Frees for: 28; wides: 14.
Booking: Johnnie Daly (33 mins).
Liscannor: Noel Kilmartin; Alan Canavan, David McDonagh, Kieran Roche; Niall Considine, Shane Canavan, Darren Nagle; Brian Considine, Raymond O’Brien; Gerard Considine, Joe Considine, Alan Clohessy; Ronan Slattery, Kieran Considine, Robert Lucas.
Sub: James Considine for Joe Considine.
Scorers: Alan Clohessy (0-5f), Kieran Considine (1-0) and Joe Considine (0-1).
Frees for: 27; wides: 6.
Bookings: Alan Clohessy (25 minutes), Niall Considine (30 minutes) and Brian Considine (51 minutes).
Referee: Rory Hickey, Éire Óg.