On-form Kilmurry ease past O’Curry’s

Kilmurry-Ibrickane 2-14  O’Curry’s 0-7

Following a leaden performance against Ennistymon in their final group match, Kilmurry Ibrickane needed a test of their resolve. They’ll have to see what the Cooraclare v Doonbeg replay winners have to offer before being hit with a real championship challenge.

Once O’Curry’s fluffed a penalty, won by Ollie Quinlan 10 minutes into the first half, the game was up for Dinny McMahon’s team.
They had already conceded a goal at that stage and needed to avail of every possible scoring opportunity. O’Shea’s softly struck penalty didn’t make any impact on Dermot O’Brien, who had not been listed to start in goals for the champions. An injury to Michael O’Dwyer led to Ian McInerney lining out at centre-forward, with O’Brien given back his goalkeeper’s jersey.
Kilmurry’s first goal came just 23 seconds into the game. Stephen Moloney kept Peter O’Dwyer’s long ball in play before Paul O’Connor’s shot on goal was only half-parried by Eoin Clohessy and trickled inside the near post.
O’Curry’s were dealt another setback when Michael O’Shea went off injured half way through the first half. As a result Ollie Quinlan moved to full-back, negating much of O’Curry’s attacking threat from centre-back.
Kilmurry led 1-6 to 0-3 at half-time. Mark McCarthy scored the best point of the first half, neatly set up by a raking long ball from Darren Hickey.
Noel Downes and Odran O’Dwyer were brought on after half time as Kilmurry ran away from their opponents.
The game was not a contest at any stage of the second half and both teams more or less accepted this.
Downes marked his return from a long-standing groin injury with a snappy 1-1.
Although they won pulling up, Kilmurry have yet to recover the zip of 2008. If they manage to do just that on Saturday week however, their lethargy last weekend will be completely forgotten.

Kilmurry Ibrickane: Dermot O’Brien, Darren Hickey, Mark Killeen, Martin McMahon, Shane Hickey, Thomas O’Connor, Enda Coughlan (captain); Peter O’Dwyer, Paul O’Connor; Keith King, Ian McInerney, Stephen Moloney, Michael Hogan, Johnny Daly, Mark McCarthy.
Subs: Evan Talty for Thomas O’Connor, Noel Downes for Mark McCarthy, Odran O’Dwyer for Johnny Daly, Colm Donnellan for Keith King, John Willie Sexton for Martin McMahon.
Scorers: Noel Downes 1-1, Paul O’Connor 1-0, Stephen Moloney 0-3; Enda Coughlan, Mark McCarthy, Michael Hogan 0-2 each; Ian McInerney 0-2f, Shane Hickey 0-1, Johnny Daly 0-1f.
Wides: 10   Frees won: 16   45s: 1
Yellow card: Ian McInerney
“We’re delighted to be in the semi-final. It was unfortunate for O’Curry’s that they conceded the early goal and lost their full back. The game went away from them after that. The semi-final will be a huge task and we’ll have to improve considerably if we’re going to win that game.” Kilmurry Ibrickane manager, Micheál McDermott

O’Curry’s: Eoin Clohessy, Seamus Coffey, Michael O’Shea, Gearóid Lynch. Paul Roche, Ollie Quinlan, Brian Troy; Derek Troy, Ger Quinlan; Declan Walsh, Seán Haugh, Damien Carmody, Gerald Troy, Michael Carmody, Tom Downes.
Subs: Tadhg Concannon for Michael O’Shea (injured), James Troy for Gerald Troy , 18 for James Troy. 
Scorers: Ger Quinlan 0-6, (0-3f), Michael Carmody 0-1.
Wides: 5    Frees won: 22
Yellow cards: Declan Walsh, Derek Troy.
“If we didn’t give them the early goal and maybe we scored the penalty, we might have been more competitive but they’re a class team. We worked extremely hard and our lads fought to the death. We couldn’t fault our players for their effort throughout the year.” Dinny McMahon, O’Curry’s manager.
Referee: Michael Fitzgerald (Clondegad).