Another impressive display from Celbridge

Celbridge 2-16

Carbury 1-7

Celbridge made light work of the challenge of Clogherinkoe to secure a third straight win in Group B of the 2024 Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship in Clane on Saturday evening.

Micheál McDermott’s side had raced into a 2-10 to 1-3 advantage by the half-time recess, thanks in no small measure to an impressive defensive performance, four points from Aaron Browne and timely goals by Tony Archbold and Mick O’Grady.

Clogherinkoe had found the back of the net 13 minutes in through Jimmy Lynch and they were not without their chances to close the gap in the second half, but they lacked the clinical finishing required to haul them back into contention and, consequently, had to settle for third place in the group.

Celbridge were up and running just over a minute into proceedings when goalkeeper, Shane McNamara strode up-field to dispatch a 45 over the bar.

The crossfield breeze that blew across Conneff Park did see a further two attempts drift off course, but Aaron Browne judged the elements to perfection to see his effort from the right curl between the posts and double Celbridge’s advantage.

Clogherinkoe did open their account on six minutes when Mark Nolan fisted the ball over the bar, but Celbridge’s response was swift and decisive.

Davy Hughes whipped over a point before Archbold got under a high ball in and managed to tuck it away to the back of the net on eight minutes.

Browne followed that up with a converted free as Celbridge began to exert a strong grip on this tie.

Nevertheless, Clogherinkoe did look to be right back in it on 13 minutes when Cein McMonagle’s effort was parried by McNamara, but only into the path of Jimmy Lynch who calmly steered the ball to an empty net.

Yet, that was to prove nothing more than a false dawn, as Celbridge recorded a further two points through Hugh McGrillen and Dean O’Donoghue before Niall O’Regan set up Mick O’Grady to punch the ball home for their second goal on 21 minutes.

Mark Nolan and McMonagle did fire over another two points for Clogherinkoe, but they were more than cancelled out before the break by points from Aaron and Killian Browne and O’Grady.

Celbridge showed no sign of taking their foot off the pedal in the second half as Killian Browne added two quick points to the 10-point cushion his side had engineered by the break.

And they went very close to adding a third goal on 37 minutes when Killian Browne played the ball across the face of goal, but just a little too high for Peter McAteer, who was unable to get enough purchase on his effort, the ball consequently trickling wide.

McMonagle did get the scoreboard ticking again for Clogherinkoe, but his point was met by two for Celbridge through Killian Browne and second half substitute, Kevin O’Callaghan.

Indeed, Clogherinkoe were just unable to make any in-roads into Celbridge’s lead, and their finishing down the stretch made it clearly evident that there would be no late comeback.

McMonagle was unlucky to see two attempts cannon back off the framework in the space of five minutes, while Mark Nolan could not get enough power behind both his 45 and attempt from play to recover any lost ground and, instead, Celbridge signed off with a further two points from Killian Brown and substitute, Paddy Wall.

Scorers: Celbridge: Killian Browne 0-5 (0-1 free), Mick O’Grady 1-1, Aaron Browne 0-4 (0-1 free), Tony Archbold 1-0, Shane McNamara 0-1 (0-1 45), Davy Hughes 0-1, Hugh McGrillen 0-1 (0-1 mark), Dean O’Donoghue 0-1, Kevin O’Callaghan 0-1, Paddy Wall 0-1.

Clogherinkoe: Jimmy Lynch 1-1, Mark Nolan 0-3, Cein McMonagle 0-2 (0-2 frees), Aedan Boyle 0-1.

CELBRIDGE: Shane McNamara; John Clarke, Cian Powell, Mick Konstantin; Dean O’Donoghue, Fergal Conway, Liam O’Flynn; Hugh McGrillen, Mick O’Grady; Niall O’Regan, Peter McAteer, Tony Archbold; Davy Hughes, Aaron Browne, Killian Browne. Subs: Kevin O’Callaghan for Hughes (half-time); Cormac O’Sullivan for Powell (40 minutess), Paddy Wall for McAteer and James Dolan for Archbold (both 56 minutess).

CLOGHERINKOE: Keith Wilkinson; Ben Kenny, Eoghan McMonagle, Joe Mulraney; Andrew Hill, Gavin Scanlon, Dean Hanley; Sean Kenny, Killian Galligan; Daniel Grehan, Mark Nolan, Aedan Boyle; Jimmy Lynch, Cein McMonagle, Joe McIlduff. Subs: Ciaran Flynn for Kenny (49 minuteds) and Conor Swan for McIlduff (52 minutess).

REFEREE: Kieran Harris.