Reigning champs finish all square with Kilmaley

Crusheen  1-13

Kilmaley  1-13

While both Crusheen and Kilmaley can point to missed chances at Cusack Park on Saturday evening.
a draw was a fair outcome on a day when the sides were level on six occasions. Champions Crusheen had to rely on an injury time point from a Pat Vaughan free to earn a share of the spoils.

Crusheen looked to be in a strong position when they went to the break leading by four points after playing against the wind. Kilmaley, helped by some changes, stepped up a gear in the second half and as the game ticked into added time they looked the likely winners. Crusheen captain Gerry O’Grady showed his experience however when winning the free which Vaughan converted to level the game seconds before the final whistle.
The champions went into the game without the injured Cronan Dillon. This led to the switch of his brother Cian to full-back, the move of Pat Vaughan from midfield to centre-back and the introduction of Sean Dillon at midfield. Early in the game they lost Joe Meaney with a hand injury.
Kilmaley lined out with seven members of their minor A championship winning side from 2009 in the starting line-up.
Two early Daire Keane points gave Kilmaley the lead, the second point coming a good save by Crusheen goalie Donal Tuohy. Fergus Kennedy opened Crusheen’s account in the third minute but a Colin Lynch effort quickly restored Kilmaley’s two-point advantage. They were level at 0-3 each after minutes. They swapped points twice before the end of the first quarter when it was 0-5 each.
From here to the break, Crusheen had the better of matters with their forwards causing problems for the Kilmaley defence. Two pointed frees from Pat Vaughan and one from play from the county captain, together with a point from Paddy Meaney, saw the champions open a four-point lead by half time, 0-9 to 0-5.
Shortly before the break, Kilmaley introduced John Clohessy for Colin McGuane in an effort to tighten up their defence. They returned for the second half with Declan Clancy at centre-forward in place of Eoin Enright and they started at a lively pace with points from Kenneth Kennedy (a 65’ and a free) and one from Daire Keane to cut the lead to the minimum with just four minutes played.
In their first attack of the half, Crusheen had a goal from Fergus Kennedy but Kilmaley, to their credit, didn’t panic and were quickly back on the attack. John Cabey pointed after a Diarmuid McMahon effort had been blocked down. They continued to press and were rewarded in the eleventh minute when Daire Keane first timed the ball to the net to tie up the game at 1-9 each.
They weren’t to score again for 12 minutes and in that time, Crusheen had opened a three point gap from Pat Vaughan (free) and a brace from Gearóid O’Donnell. The introduction of Seamus Hurley to the Kilmaley attack helped improve matters and two Kenneth Kennedy pointed frees and one from play from Declan Clancy levelled the tie for the fifth time with four minutes to go.
When Diarmuid McMahon gave his side the lead a minute later, they looked to have the edge but Vaughan tied it up again two minutes into injury time after his side had been guilty of a couple of bad wides.
Cian and Cathal Dillon, Pat Vaughan, David Forde and Gerry O’Grady got through a lot of good work for Crusheen while Colin Lynch, Daire Keane, Martin O’Connor, Declan Clancy and John Clohessy did well for Kilmaley.
Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John  Brigdale, Cian Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Ciarán O’Doherty, Pat Vaughan, Cathal Dillon; Tony Meaney, Sean Dillon; Gearóid O’Donnell, Joe Meaney, David Forde; Conor O’Donnell, Gerry O’Grady (c) Fergus Kennedy.
Subs: Paddy Meaney for Joe Meaney (inj 16 minutes).
Scorers: Pat Vaughan (0-5, 4f). Fergus Kennedy (1-1), Gearóid O’Donnell (0-2); Tony Meaney, Joe Meaney, David Forde, Conor O’Donnell, Paddy Meaney (0-1 each).
Frees for: 11; wides: 8; 65s: 1
Bookings: Tony Meaney (51 minutes).
“We will certainly take a draw as we didn’t play well in the second half. It’s a game we should have won if we played right but we didn’t and when you don’t you deserve to be punished. We very nearly lost the game. It was a real bonus to get that free at the end and level the game. We missed a few chances at the end. We had a couple of wides that shouldn’t have happened,” Michael Browne, Crusheen manager.

Kilmaley: Kieran Dillon; Conor McMahon, Anthony Cahill, Martin O’Connor; Colin McGuane, Alan Markham (c) Noel Casey; Kenneth Kenneth, Colin Lynch; Daire Keane, Eoin Enright, John Cabey; Niall McGuane, Diarmuid McMahon, Michael O’Neill.
Subs: John Clohessy for C McGuane (25 minutes), Declan Clancy for Enright (half time), Padraig Talty for N McGuane (43 minutes), Seamus Hurley for Cabey (48 minutes), Sean Talty for O’Connor (48 minutes).
Scorers: Daire Keane (1-3); Kenneth Kennedy (0-4, 3f, 1 ’65); Colin Lynch, John Cabey (0-2) each; Declan Clancy, Diarmuid McMahon (0-1 each).
Frees for: 10; wides: 9; 65s: 3
Bookings: Diarmuid McMahon (18 minutes).
“We feel we left it after us. We should have closed it out. That said we were four points down at half time facing into a gale and the lads showed great character. It bodes well for the future. Sooner or later we will win one of these tight games,” John Carmody, Kilmaley manager.

Referee: Rory Hickey, Éire Óg.