Late scores seal final place for Kilmurry

 

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-12   Doonbeg 0-11

A TRIO of late, yet pivotal, points from Seamus Murrihy, Aidan Moloney and Niall Hickey helped Kilmurry Ibrickane to squeeze into next Sunday’s O’Gorman Cup final in Doonbeg.

Murrihy’s point tied the teams at 0-10 apiece, while Moloney angled over a tricky 21-yard free, won by substitute Evan Talty. Moloney was brought on for Ciarán Morrissey five minutes from time and his left foot proved very useful to the holders, when they won that free. A couple of minutes later, Hickey kicked his sixth free, establishing a two-point lead and while Paul Dillon pointed from a dead ball with the game’s second-last kick, Doonbeg needed a goal to win it in injury time.

Both teams were without their respective county players but produced an intense, very competitive hour’s football. Doonbeg will feel frustrated that they didn’t win it, bearing in mind that they kicked 11 wides.

Doonbeg played with the help of a fairly strong first-half breeze but led just 0-5 to 0-3 at the interval. Enda Doyle, playing at full-forward, kicked two first-half points, as did the impressive Paul Dillon, while Colm Dillon completed their first-half tally.

Niall Hickey, from play and a free and Thomas O’Connor scored the winners’ points in the opening half, while in the last attack of the half, Keith King hammered the ball off Kevin Pender’s crossbar.
Doonbeg’s six first-half wides ultimately cost them, with Frank O’Dea and Colm Dillon kicking two wides apiece.

Come the seventh minute of the second period, points from O’Dea and Colm Dillon had helped Doonbeg to establish a 0-7 to 0-4 lead. Hickey had pointed Kilmurry’s opening score of the second half. Over the following 13 minutes, Kilmurry played their way to parity with Michael O’Dwyer pointing twice, while Hickey kicked frees won by Murrihy and King.

Paul Dillon and Hickey exchanged frees before Cian O’Mahoney kicked the Magpies a point up four minutes from the end of normal time. Sensing they needed to up their game, Kilmurry did just that, remaining composed as they fashioned those match-winning late frees, along with Murrihy’s equaliser from play.

Doonbeg, who had Ronan Goode sent off late in the second half, had plenty of chances to win it but weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.

On the plus side for Doonbeg, midfielder James McInerney did very well, while Paul Dillon was their best forward. At the other side of the field, Kevin Pender excelled in goals, dealing confidently with any ball that came his way.

Niall Hickey was Kilmurry’s most impressive attacker from play and frees, while elsewhere Thomas Lernihan, Stephen Moloney and Michael O’Dwyer all contributed significantly to Kilmurry’s performance.

Kilmurry Ibrickane: Peter O’Dwyer; Shane Hickey, Darren Hickey, John Willie Sexton; Thomas Lernihan, Paul O’Connor, Thomas O’Connor; Peter O’Dwyer, Keith King; Seamus Murrihy, Stephen Moloney, Ciarán Morrissey; Johnny Daly, Niall Hickey, Michael O’Dwyer.
Subs: Aidan Moloney for Ciarán Morrissey (55) and Evan Talty for Thomas O’Connor (54, inj).
Scorers: Niall Hickey (0-7, 6f), Michael O’Dwyer (0-2), Thomas O’Connor, Aidan Moloney (f) and Seamus Murrihy (0-1 each).
Wides: 6; Frees: 20.

Doonbeg: Kevin Pender; Joe Blake, Pádraig Gallagher, Cian Clancy; Richie Vaughan, Shane O’Brien, Páraic Aherne; Frank O’Dea, James McInerney; Ronan Goode, Colm Dillon, Jamie Whelan; Paul Dillon, Enda Doyle, Conor Downes.
Subs: Cian O’Mahoney for Jamie Whelan (49).
Scorers: Paul Dillon (0-4, 3f), Colm Dillon (1f), Enda Doyle (1f) and Frank O’Dea (0-2 each) and Cian O’Mahoney (0-1).
Wides: 11; Frees: 25; 45s: 2.
Yellow cards: Cian Clancy, Ronan Goode and James McInerney.
Red card: Ronan Goode.

Referee: Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown).