Comfortable wins for Sallins and Caragh in Kildare Intermediate Championship prelim round

Full match reports from Sallins vs Ballymore Eustace and Caragh vs Nurney

The Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Football Championship preliminary round

Sallins 2-14

Ballymore Eustace 0-8

Sallins defeated Ballymore Eustace in the IFC at Hawkfield on Saturday by all of a dozen points but two late goals put a somewhat shine on the win although it has to be said the boys in green and white were never troubed by a Ballymore side who have had a bit of a nightmare season to date.

Ballymore looked a shell of the team that made it to the intermediate final last year, with just five of the starting team from the drawn final against Kilcock lining out in this one.

Having been beaten in last year’s semi-final, Sallins will look to go further and win this year’s championship. They made a quick start to this one, as a free from Cian Grimes and a Jamie Cox score gave them an early advantage.

Despite the loss of important players and a poor league campaign, Ballymore acquitted themselves rather nicely early on. A well-worked score from Caolan Halpin in the ninth minute meant they only trailed by one.

As the first half progressed, Sallins kicked on, mainly through the brilliant dead ball ability of Cian Grimes, and the red-hot form of Jamie Cox.

Barring a great two-minute spell from Ballymore, in which they got two consecutive scores from Sean O’Sullivan and Shane Barrett, Sallins controlled the rest of the first half, and entered the break leading 0-8 to 0-4.

The second half was, in truth, a bit of a damp squib. Ballymore reduced the deficit to just three at one stage thanks to a score from Halpin, however they would only split the posts twice for the rest of the game, as Sallins pushed on.

Grimes’ flawless free taking ability kept the scoreboard ticking over, and they dominated possession for large periods.

With the clock winding down, the game was sucked of all energy and life. The intensity went out of the match, and there were long stretches where neither team recorded any score at all.

Suddenly, deep into injury time, Sallins finally raised a green flag. A ball across the box from substitute Kevin Phillips found Jamie Cox. Cox, who was a classy operator all afternoon, found space in a crowded penalty area and hammered the ball home.

Less than a minute later, Ballymore Eustace keeper Tommie Archbold was picking the ball out of his goals again. From the kickout following the goal, Sallins forced a turnover.

Once again, Phillips played the role of provider. He fisted the ball into James Dalton’s path, who was bearing down on goal.

Dalton coolly rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into the empty goal.

The final whistle sounded shortly afterwards. It was an admittedly below par performance from Sallins, who many feel will be one of the teams vying to win an intermediate championship this year. They may have been the better team, but their performance didn’t warrant such a big margin of victory by any means.

SALLINS: Ryan Herbert; Ruari O’Domhnall, Darren Keane, Conor Dalton (0-1); Luke Kelly, Eoin McConnon, Ben Caulfield; Luke Killian, Emmet Ralph; Alan Marshall (0-1), Paul Clifford (0-1), Cian Grimes (0-6, 6f); James Dalton (1-0), Jamie Cox (1-4), Colm Dalton. Subs: Rory Gavin for Colm Dalton (30 minutes); ,Kevin Foley for J.Dalton (30 minutes); Conor McElroy for Marshall (46 minutes); James Dalton for Clifford (48 minutes); Paul Farrelly for Conor Dalton (58 minutes).

BALLYMORE EUSTACE: Tommie Archbold; Des Horan, Kevin Kelleher, Caolan Halpin (0-2); Tadhg Barrett (0-1), Darragh Kelleher, Callum McClintock; Shane Barrett (0-1), Sean O’Sullivan (0-1); Seamus Kelleher, Michael Stewart-Byrne, Aaron Deegan; Simon Murphy (0-3, 1f), Finn Breslin, Sean Broderick. Subs: Charlie Litton for S.Kelleher (30 minutes); Tadhg Grace for Horan (30 minutes); , Mark Slevin for McClintovk (42minutes); Danny McGarvey for Deegan (48 minutes).

REFEREE: Padraig McGivern

Caragh 0-20

Nurney 0-7

Caragh and Nurney clashed in the opening round of The Auld Shebeen Bar Athy IFC (Preliminary round) at Kilcullen on Friday and, as expected it was the Caragh boys who recorded a somewhat comfortable victory on the day.

Nurney came out of the traps quickly and decisively leading 0-4 to 0-3 after the first quarter with three great scores from Andy Behan and Brian Conway converting a mark.

However that lead was short lived as Caragh opened with all guns blazing hit six points on the trot from Jake Corrigan, Kevin Connor and Eoghan O'Haire.

Caragh led by four at the break — 0-8 to 0-4 — a fine save fron Nurney keepper, John Merrins, keeping his side in touch.

Caragh burst out of the traps at the beginning of the second half, scoring four unanswered points within the opening few minutes. Corrigan added two, along with Austin Nevin and Ryan Burke both getting on the scoresheet.

Caragh continued to dominate with some excellent long range points throughout the second half. Nurney responded with two points from Andy Behan and Mikey Conway but it was not enough as the boys in maroon chalked up their expected victory on a final score line of Caragh 0-20 Nurney 0-7.

Scorers

Caragh, Eoghan O'Haire 0-6, Jake Corrigan 0-4, Daniel Lynam 0-2, Kevin Campbell 0-2, Joe Barrett 0-1, Kevin Connor 0-1, Austin Nevin 0-1, Sean Naughton 0-1, Ryan Burke 0-1 and Dan Campbell 0-1.

Nurney, Andy Behan 0-5, Brian Conway 0-1, Mikey Conway 0-1.

Teams

CARAGH: Michael Behan, Cathal McKennedy, Matthew McNally, Eoghan Garry, Daniel Murray, Paul Dockery, Ryan Burke, Kevin Connor, Eoghan O'Haire, Alex Kehoe, Austin Nevin, Joe Barrett, Kevin Campbell, Daniel Lynam Jake Corrigan.

NURNEY: John Merrins, Daragh Conway, John A. Kee, Thomas Burke, Steven Conway, Brian Reilly, Eoghan Fitzpatrick, William Heffernan, Kevin Conway, Eoin Kelly, Mikey Conway, Glen Higginbotham, Andy Behan, Brian Conway, Tadgh Hagney. Subs: Owen Sunderland for Eoin Kelly, Craig Morris for Steven Conway, Niall Whelan for Mikey Conway.

REFEREE: Colm Kearney.