Celbridge hit Allenwood with first half scorching
The eventual winners led 2-15 to 0-2 at half-time
Celbridge 2-19
Allenwood 0-12
It was a bleak Group B opener for losing side Allenwood, who were on the end of a thumping at the hands of Clebridge. The eventual winners led by 19 points at the break and all in attendance in Clane were treated to a shooting masterclass from Aaron and Killian Browne.
Allenwood, much like their fans, did not give up and both should be credited continued energy throughout.
Aaron Browne opened the scoring after three minutes with a fine point, which was matched at the other end by Eoin Bagnall.
Celbridge quickly restored their lead from the subsequent kick-out when Shane McNamara found Davy Hughes with a superb restart. Hughes in turn found Killian Browne to score.
Aaron Browne added another before Liam O’Flynn and Mick O’Grady got on the scoresheet. Allenwood looked miles off their opponents in this spell of the game.
Last year’s Leinster Intermediate Champions looked second best in all departments and rarely laid a hand on Celbridge as they poured forward.
2023’s losing Senior finalist’s smelled blood and added six further points from Aaron and Killian Browne (three each) in the space of five minutes. Allenwood got their final point of the first half 10 minutes into the game when John Doyle worked a free short to Joey Cunningham. The young corner-forward then confidently fired over.
After the Browne’s finished their spell of shooting (and scoring) every time they touched the ball, Davy Hughes scored a couple of points and Liam O’Flynn added another to his tally to make this game 0-14 to 0-2 on the 20-minute mark.
Kevin Flynn got Celbridge’s first goal moments later when he burst through their defence and produced a cool finish low past Luke Anderson.
Celbridge finally kicked their first wide in the 25th minute and in response to that travesty grabbed another goal before half-time. Aaron Browne turned provider and slipped in Tony Archbold who was making a surging run. The Celbridge centre-forward drilled his effort into the back of the net.
Celbridge went in at half-time with a 2-15 to 0-2 lead.
Allenwood to their credit came out with some gusto after the restart. They outscored the Celbridge side now in cruise control 0-10 to 0-4 in the second half.
Eoin Bagnall was leading from the front and hit two super scores just after half-time to lift the crowd. The Allenwood fans, who enjoyed so many wins last year, are no fair weather bunch and were roaring their side on as they searched for more scores.
Another player who stood out amidst the Allenwood resurgence was Cormac Denagher. The midfielder curled some exceptional scores over the bar off his left foot in the second half. The pick of which came from a superb mark that was taken just in off the sideline.
Despite this match's result never being in doubt, it was played at full tilt for most of its run-time.
When Celbridge took their foot off the gas, Allenwood stood up, but there was no denying the losing side looked like a team just up from Intermediate level in that first half hammering
Scorers: Celbridge, Aaron Browne 0-7 (0-1 frees 0-1 mark), Killian Browne 0-5, Tony Archbold 1-1, Davy Hughes 0-3 (0-1 frees), Kevin Flynn 1-0, Liam O'Flynn 0-2, Mick O'Grady 0-1.
Allenwood, Eoin Bagnall 0-4 (0-1 frees 0-1 mark), Cormac Denagher 0-4 (0-1 mark 0-1 frees), John Doyle 0-2 (0-1 frees), Joey Cunningham 0-2.
CELBRIDGE: Shane McNamara; John Clarke, Cian Powell, Dean O'Donoghue; Kevin Flynn, Fergal Conway, Liam O'Flynn; Hugh McGrillen, Mick O'Grady; Niall O'Regan, Tony Archbold, Cormac O'Sullivan; Davy Hughes, Aaron Browne; Killian Browne. Subs: Mick Konstantin for Fergal Conway (46 minutes), James Dolan for Davy Hughes (46 minutes), Paddy Wall for Cormac O'Sullivan (52 minutes).
ALLENWOOD: Luke Anderson; Fionn Moran, Sean Moran, Cillian Moran; Mark Byrne, Ronan Guilfoyle, Gavin Malone; Cormac Denagher, Rory Moran; Johnny Byrne, John Doyle, Arron Dunne; Brendan Hanafey, Eoin Bagnall, Joey Cunningham. Subs: James Moore for Sean Moran (34 minutes), Eanna O'Neill for Arron Dunne (39 minutes).
Referre: Ken Doyle