Kingscourt 0-16
Cavan Gaels 0-2
Kingscourt once again steam rollered the opposition in a sunny O’Raghallaigh Park on Saturday afternoon in this Division Two match . A reserve Gaels side opened resolutely but once Kingscourt pushed ahead there was only winner. With Kingscourt’s defence being the only thing more miserable than the weather at the moment, as soon as they forged clear in the second quarter the game was up. Then Darragh Gunne stole the second half honours with a delightful point scoring exhibition.
The game opened very tightly with both sides trying to make their mark and it wasn’t until the 10th minute when Darragh Gunne opened the scoring. Things remained tight, and Ronan Tinnelly rescued the Stars with a point blank save from Shane Higgins to keep Kingscourt ahead. The home side started to up the pressure and scores from Philly Smith and Mark McKeown saw them extend the lead, and further scores had them 0-5 to 0-0 clear after 20 mins.
The Gaels finally got of the mark on 26th minute when Daniel Graham slotted over but McKeown quickly cancelled things out for a 0-6 to 0-1 halftime lead. Having played with a relatively strong breeze, it was looking ominous for the visitors as they trudged in for halftime.
Kingscourt opened the second half brightly but a great save from Paul O’Keefe in the Gaels net and some ineffective passing meant they could not extend their lead. We had to wait to the 41st minutes for the next score, but it was worth waiting for as Darragh Gunne finished of a well-worked move. Then Kingscourt simply stepped up another gear and in the space of 10 minutes doubled their score with points coming from all over the place.
The Gaels could just not cope with this devasting show of strength and with less than 10 minutes remaining were on the wrong end of a 0-12 -0-1 scoreline. Both sides started a run of substitutes as the game was well and truly up. A Levi Murphy point briefly narrowed the gap but Kingscourt had a final scoring blitz in store
Neil McCabe scored from midfield after Sean Og Gargan and slotted between the posts and an easy Philly Tinnelly score left Darragh Gunne to cap of his display with the score of the match. Gaining the ball outside the 50, he breezed by some static Gaels markers before nonchantly sailing over his fifth point from play from well out.
Another casual victory for this all-dominating Kingscourt side that all but seals promotion ahead of the championship break and means that their next game away to Killeshandra in August should be a decider for top spot. For Kingscourt, it was a devasting display with all their starting forwards, both forward substitutes and both midfielders all scoring from play. You can’t ask for more that that!
KINGSCOURT
R Tinnelly, P Farrelly (C Kieran 56 mins), D McMahon, S Gray (K Shiels (56 mins), JP Reilly, A Clarke, K McCabe, N McCabe (0-1), C Smith (0-1) (G Sheenan (48mins), J McMahon (0-1), S Og Gargan (0-1), B Tully (0-1) (M Malone (0-1) 45 mins), D Gunne (0-6, 1f), P Smith (0-1), (P Tinnelly (0-1) 50 mins), M McKeown (0-2)
Cavan Gaels
P O’Keefe, P Heslin ( D Kelleher 41 minss), M Leddy, J Dunne, N Gurhy, P Burn, J Gurhy, D Graham (0-1), D Meehan (M Dunne (48 mins), C Quinn (M Meehan 46 mins), A o’Riordain, C Flynn (R Farrelly 40 mins), S Maguire, S Higgins, G Reilly (L Murphy (0-1) 45 mins)
Referee: Ray Tynan (Virginia)
