Kingscourt 1-14
Kill 0-4
Kingscourt continued their current imperious form with a bloodless 13 point victory over Kill in O’Raghallaigh Park last Saturday evening in this Division Two clash. The Stars started sharply and once they gained the upper hand they never looked back. With every one of their starting forwards scoring from play they simply had too many options for the visitors and Barry Tully’s 40th goal sealed the victory
Right from the start, Kingcourt imposed themselves on proceedings with Gavin Sheenan and Colm Smith combining well at midfield and breaking balls down to each other and the oncoming half forwards. This meant ex-county player, Pierce McKenna could not get a foothold and early scores from Mark McKeown, Mossy Malone and Sheenan himself saw the Stars led by three after eight minutes.
Malone in particular was making a nuisance of himself in showing for broken ball and it was all Kingscourt, despite the home side now playing at a rather pedestrian pace. Urged on by the sideline, Kingscourt stepped up proceedings and some quick passing moves saw Darragh Gunne slot over some terrific scores and Sean Og Gargan fired over a great long range point to put the home side 0-7 to 0-1 clear after 22 minutes.
Two McKeown frees had Kingscourt 0-9 to 0-1 up at the break. Kingscourt opened the second half strong with Barry Tully proving a right handful despite the testing conditions. A couple of further scores were added before a great effort from Darragh Gunne cannoned of the post and despite rebounding well out, Tully blasted in a superb effort to the net to put Kingscourt 1-11 to 0-2 ahead.
Credit to Kill, they refused to concede and the excellent Conor McCaffery dropped out in an effort to obtain possession with some effect. They pushed Kingscourt hard in the final quarter and created some goal chances but Kingscourt’s defence stood strong. Points from McCarey & Kelly were cancelled out by further delightful scores from Gunne and Philly Smith also got in on the act.
For Kingscourt, despite being short a number of first choices, the strength in their panel was clear with their replacements, and also those subs used, acquitting themselves very well. Again, Paddy Farrelly and Alan Clarke were commanding in defence with Darragh Gunne and Barry Tully most troublesome up front. However, again this was a very strong team performance all round.
For Kill, Conor McCaffrey had a superb game but could just not receive enough possession. The main plus point for the visitors was their determination to the end, and if that attitude continues, they should just do enough to maintain their Division Two status.
KINGSCOURT
R Tinnelly, P Farrelly, N McCabe, S Gray (C Kieran 49 mins), JP Reilly (P Tinnelly 46mins), A Clarke, K McCabe, N McCabe, C Smith, G Sheenan (0-1), B Tully (1-1), S Og Gargan (0-1) (J McMahon 46 mins), M Malone (0-1) (K Shiels 49 mins), D Gunne (0-4), P Smith (0-1), M McKeown (0-5, 4f) (D Martin (47 mins)
KILL
D Ward, L Kelly, D Kissane, J Kelly, L O’Brien, B McCarey, J McCarey, C McCarey (0-1), P McKenna (0-1f), N Foster, M Magee, C McCaffery (0-1), A Brady, M Kelly (0-1), N McCaffery
