Fanning goal vital as Clane defeat Carbury

Joe Mallon Motors SFC, Group A

Clane 3-13

Carbury 2-9

Clane secured the points following a hard-fought battle against Carbury in Manguard Park on Saturday.

The sides sat level at 1-4 to 0-7 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. An exceptional goal from Mark Cully for Carbury was undoubtedly the biggest moment of the game to that point.

Clane trailed for much of the first half but began to find their way through the blanket Carbury defence as the game wore on.

Clane’s first green flag of the afternoon was of the highest quality as James Behan off-loaded to Shane O’Sullivan who was bursting forward. O’Sullivan drilled his effort past Declan Conroy in the Carbury goal to give his side a four-point lead.

Last year’s county finalists hit four of the final five scores of the half to send their team in at the break in a strong position at 1-9 to 1-5 in their favour.

It looked like this game was going to peter out early in the second half as Clane slowly but surely extended their lead in this game. Points from Adam Fanning, Shane McCormack and Oisin Tighe meant their side sat seven points clear and were cruising.

Carbury weren’t going quietly however as points from Jack Cully and Morgan O’Flaherty reduced the gap.

A big absence on the day for the trailing side was Kildare goalkeeper Aaron O’Neill who plays much further up the field for his club side. O’Neill was clearly carrying a knock but was nonetheless introduced in the second half to give his side some physical presence up front.

The risk would pay off with 10 minutes to go as O’Neill latched on to a rebounded shot to poke home and his goal sent Carbury back to within just two points of leaders Clane.

The gap was down to a single point when Jack Smyth knocked over a superb score from range to set up a grandstand finish.

As the trailing side pushed for their equaliser, they would finally afford those dangerous Clane forwards the space they had been searching for all game.

The side with the narrow lead sprung a fast counter and it was two of their stars in Adam Fanning and Shane O’Sullivan that were headed for goal.

Fanning offloaded to O’Sullivan who looked certain to shoot but delayed and returned possession to the full-forward. Fanning was the man to pull the trigger and smashed the ball into the back of the net to give his side some breathing room once more.

The goal ended this tie in truth as it seemed unlikely that Carbury would break through again. It would instead be Clane who breached the goal one last time before the referee's final whistle.

Another swift counter attack was launched and this time it ended in the hands of Sam McCormack. The Clane midfielder had a superb game across the 60 minutes and added a goal to his earlier two points to close out this game.

McCormack coolly side-footed the ball past Conroy in the Carbury goal and Clane ran out the victors at 3-13 to 2-9.

Scorers: Clane, Adam Fanning 1-2, Sam McCormack 1-2 (0-2 frees), Shane O'Sullivan 1-1, Tadhg Montgomery 0-3, Robbie Phillips 0-1, Oisin O'Sullivan 0-1, Jake Burke 0-1, Shane McCormack 0-1, Oisin Tighe 0-1 (0-1 Mark).

Carbury, Mark Cully 1-1, Jack Cully 0-4 (0-2 frees), Aaron O'Neill 1-0, Stephen McGlynn 0-1 (0-1 frees), John Gallagher 0-1, Morgan O'Flaherty 0-1, Jack Smyth 0-1.

CLANE: John Ball; Harry O'Neill, Oisin Tighe, Conor Walsh; Hugh Prendergast, Jake Burke, Robbie Phillips; Tadhg Montgomery, Sam McCormack; Cathal O'Brien, Shane O'Sullivan, Shane McCormack; James Behan, Adam Fanning, Oisin O'Sullivan. Subs: Cormac Vizzard for Oisin Tighe (47 minutes), Sam Reilly for Oisin O'Sullivan (47 minutes), Sean Christianseen for Shane McCormack (57 minutes).

CARBURY: Declan Conroy; Paul Flemming, Dean Cummins, Brian Milmoe; Jack Smyth, Brian O'Flaherty, Conor Denehan; Conor Gallagher, Jimmy Dunne; Ciarán Kenna, Stephen McGlynn, John Gallagher; JP Gill, Jack Cully, Mark Cully. Subs: Aaron O'Neill for Stephen McGlynn (34 minutes), Morgan O'Flaherty for Conor Denehan (34 minutes), Tommy Gill for Conor Gallagher (34 minutes), Oisin Milmoe for JP Gill (46 minutes), Lee Flynn for Brian Milmoe (54 minutes).

REFEREE: Conor Daly