Leixlip in control throughout against Ellistown in IFC
Leixlip 1-17
Ellistown 0-6
One of the Intermediate Championship favourites, Leixlip, laid down what they hope will be an early marker in their preliminary round clash with Ellistown at Raheens on Friday evening.
The losing side have some young and promising elements to their team but on the night was further demonstration that plenty more must be done to bridge the gap between them and the sharp end of the IFC.
The stark difference early on was at the back as Leixlip played their way through an organised but largely frail Ellistown defence. Conor Lawlor, who would finish as the game’s top scorer, got the opening point of the game after two minutes.
There was a fairly even spread among the Leixlip scorers as each of the forward line seized the chance to add some scores to their tally.
Next on the board would be Luke Mahon who drove at the heart of the opposition defence before slotting over.
Trailing 0-4 to no score, Ellistown got their first score on the board through Tadhg Watson.
Watson was trying every trick in his repertoire in the opening half to work opportunities for himself and did so to good effect on eight minutes after a fine solo run.
The Ellistown man could have been accused at times of over carrying the ball but when other forwards were being turned over repeatedly, it’s easy to see why the centre-forward tried to do too much at times.
That being said, Leixlip will be pleased with their defending in this game. The backline rarely lapsed in what was a completely dominant performance from their defensive unit.
Eamon Watson got his first of the game for Leixlip before Tommy Moolick popped over a nice free to also open his account on the evening.
Moolick turned creator as his chipped pass found Ollie Birch who took his mark and subsequent score with aplomb.
Just before the break, the game sat at 0-9 to 0-2 but there was still time for one last sucker punch for the trailing side, who were also down to 14 following a Sean Lindy black card.
Making a burst down the sideline from deep, Jack Travers got the ball across to midfielder Darren McDermott to slap the ball into the net. The green flag all but ended this game as a contest with the sides going in 1-9 to 0-2 at the break.
Leixlip would not attack with the same fervour in the second half but remained well in control of this game for the following half-hour.
What was perhaps the score of the game came from an Ellistown player as Max Lennox drove up the pitch from midfield and slotted a super score. The fine point was little consolation to the disappointed trailing side.
Leixlip closed out for victory comfortably and will take their boosted confidence into the group stages of this year’s Championship. Surprisingly however they used just one sub across the 60 minutes of action and what most would see as an opportunity to get minutes into squad players was not taken.
Final score - 1-17 to 0-6.
Scorers: Leixlip, Conor Lawlor 0-5 (0-2 frees), Ollie Birch 0-3 (0-1 Mark), Darren McDermott 1-0, Tommy Moolick 0-3 (0-3 frees), Eamon Murphy 0-3, Luke Mahon 0-1, Jack Travers 0-1, Paddy Meagher 0-1.
Ellistown, Conor Lindy 0-2 (0-2 frees), Tadhg Watson 0-1, Max Lennox 0-1, Eoin O'Loughlin 0-1, Pat Martin 0-1.
LEIXLIP: Niall McConnell; Brian Gibbons, Jack Quinn, Sean O'Connor; Jack Travers, Ronan Fitzsimons, Darren O'Connor; Tommy Moolick, Darren McDermott; Ollie Birch, Paddy Meagher, Sean Englishby; Luke Mahon, Conor Lawlor, Eamon Murphy. Subs: Brian Claffey for Olli Birch (56 minutes).
ELLISTOWN: Oran Donnelly; Sean Lindy, Darragh Watson, Brian Tyrell; James Neilson, Eoin O'Loughlin, Pat Martin; Conor Lindy, Max Lennox; Dean Frahill, Tadhg Watson, Ciaran Lindy; David Dunne, Conor O'Loughlin, Andy O'Neill. Subs: Michael Kelly for Dean Frahill (49 minutes), Andrew McLoughlin for Conor O'Loughlin (49 minutes), Callum Donnelly for James Neilson (59 minutes).
REFEREE: Fergus Devereux.