St Kevin's impress in dominant win over Castledermot

St Kevin's 1-11

Castledermot 1-6

St Kevin’s produced a brilliant opening round display to beat Intermediate Championship finalists of the last two years, Castledermot.

It was a game that matched the conditions in the early stages with little to write home about from either side. St Kevin’s opened the scoring through Cormac Noone after the wing-forward earned himself space to shoot.

The game was levelled by Gavin Keating just a minute later with a fine curling effort before Ciaran Smyth restored the St Kevin’s lead.

Smyth’s point in the fourth minute would be the last for another 10 as this game entered a rain-covered purgatory.

Mark Grace got his first point of the day to restart scoring once again.

Castledermot midfielder Gavin Farrell shaped for what looked like a long ball into the danger area, but instead put it between the posts to make this game 0-3 to 0-2 after 19 mins.

A Jamie Murray free restored St Kevin’s two-point advantage before Mark Grace lifted the crowd with an excellent score to get his side’s fifth.

Gavin Keating produced a superb long-range point of his own for Casteldermot before Grace struck again at the other end.

Led by Mark Grace’s three superb scores and some solid defending, St Kevin’s led 0-6 to 0-3 at the break.

The leading side would get the perfect start to the second half by hitting the net after two minutes. In a rare moment of complete vulnerability, Castledermot were caught out on the counter-attack.

Mark Grace found Cormac Noone in space and the wing-forward drove towards goal. Noone delayed and delayed before hand-passing to Conor Murray to slap into the net.

Castledermot would also lose the resulting kickout, which was punished by the on-form Mark Grace to make this game 1-7 to 0-3 after 32 minutes.

St Kevin’s were firmly in control in this spell and appeared to be one step ahead, not only in front of goal, but in the tackle too.

Conor Murray added to his tally when he finished off a slick St Kevin’s move to extend their lead.

Things would go from bad to worse for Castledermot a minute later when David Keating was black carded for repeated dissent.

Gavin Keating’s free-kick to close the gap was matched at the other end by a brilliant Conor Murray score from a tight angle.

David Keating’s reintroduction would be a welcome one when he found the net just two minutes after returning to the field. Keating latched onto a rebound and drilled his effort into the net to make it 1-9 to 1-4 in the 51st minute.

The next score was crucial and it was St Kevin’s corner-forward Jamie O’Brien who got it.

Gavin Farrell raised another white flag for Castledermot as they poured forward in search of another goal. Declan Flaherty would answer at the other end in the 57th minute to keep the St Kevin’s side of the scoreboard ticking over.

Gavin Keating would get the game’s last score as St Kevin’s ran out 1-11 to 1-6 winners.

Scorers: St Kevin's, Conor Murray 1-3 (0-1 frees), Mark Grace 0-4, Cormac Noone 0-1, Ciaran Smyth 0-1, Jamie O'Brien 0-1, Declan Flaherty 0-1.

Castledermot, David Keating 1-1, Gavin Keating 0-3 (0-2 frees), Gavin Farrell 0-2.

ST KEVIN'S: Aaron Fox; Diarmuid Smyth, Conor Gordon, Jamie Kenna; Alan Bennett, Tom Barron, Dean Regan; Enda Keane, Mark Grace; Cormac Noone, Jamie Smyth, Aeneas Murphy; Conor Murray, Ciaran Smyth, Jamie O'Brien. Subs: Declan Flaherty for Ciaran Smyth (40 minutes), Kevin McNamee for Jamie O'Brien (61 minutes), Paddy Tyrell for Jamie Kenna (61 minutes).

CASTLEDERMOT: Shane Nolan; Tomas Murphy, Billy O'Gorman, Donnchadh Kinch; Padraic Murphy, Bryan Nolan, Willie Kelly; Gavin Farrell, David Keating; Conor Nolan, Gavin Keating, Anthony Lawler; Paddy Whelan, Fionn O'Gorman, David Dooley. Subs: Tadgh Phelan for Padraic Murphy 34 minutes), Nick Jackman for Donnchadh Kinch (45 minutes), Cian Murphy for Conor Nolan (50 minutes), Dillon Kirwan for Paddy Whelan (53).

REFEREE: Niall Colgan