Athy hugely impressive in first Kildare SFC group win against Clogherinkoe

Athy 1-25

Clogherinkoe 0-11

Athy got a win on the board in their opening Kildare SFC Group A game when they beat Clogherinkoe in Manguard Park, Hawkfield.

The eventual winners put forward a statement of intent as they dispatched a resilient Clogherinkoe side.

The Cloghs raced three points ahead after just 90 seconds of play with a double and a single from Cein McMonagle.

The Athy forwards responded with three of their own without reply through Colm Moran, Conor Doyle, and Ronan Kelly to level things after six minutes of action.

Back-to-back two-point frees from Colm Moran then surged Athy ahead with the wing-forward knocking over both off the deck with little fuss.

Clogherinkoe then produced one of their own through Jimmy Lynch who mimmicked Moran with one of his own off the deck and off his left foot to leave this game 0-7 to 0-5 after 10 minutes.

Athy edged three clear again through a Niall Kelly free before they hit the net to double their advantage. It was a lightning move from the men in red who moved the ball rapidly through the hands and finished the sequence with Conor Doyle slapping the ball into the net.

Two further Athy points were answered by another Jimmy Lynch two-pointer free.

Athy were then reduced to 14 when Michael Spillane was sidelined for a blatant black card offence. The leading side played it smart and held a huge amount of possession as they patiently prodded and probed Clogherinkoe. They added three points before half-time with just one from Jimmy Lynch going the other way. 

After the trio of additions from Conor Doyle, Kevin Feely, and Ronan Kelly, Athy led 1-13 to 0-8 at the break.

The Cloghs came out strong after the restart and again got the opening couple of scores of the half.

Athy got their first of the second half through Niall Kelly in the 37th minute and two minutes later Clogherinkoe registered their last as Athy reassumed control.

Athy were well on top and mightily impressive throughout this fixture, they added 10 more points without reply in the last 20 minutes of this game to finish as 1-25 to 0-11 winners.

Athy, Conor Doyle 1-4, Colm Moran 0-7 (0-4 frees, one 2pt, two 2pt frees), Niall Kelly 0-3 (0-2 frees), Kevin Feely 0-3, Ronan Kelly 0-2,  Brian Maher 0-2, Barry Kelly 0-1, James McGrath 0-1, David Hyland 0-1, Padraig Spillane 0-1.

Clogherinkoe, Jimmy Lynch 0-5 (0-5 frees, one 2pt free), Cein McMonagle 0-4 (0-1 frees, one 2pt), Mark Nolan 0-1, Caelum Flanagan 0-1.

ATHY: James Roycroft; Sean Moore, Padraig Spillane, Michael Spillane; Brian Maher, Cathal McCarron, James McGrath; Kevin Feely, David Hyland; Colm Moran, Barry Kelly, Conor Doyle; Ronan Kelly, Ben Purcell, Niall Kelly. Subs: Brian Kelly for Ronan Kelly (42 minutes), Darren Lawlor for Cathal McCarron (46 minutes), Jack Dooley for Barry Kelly (50 minutes).

CLOGHERINKOE: Keith Wilkinson; Conor Grehan, Eoghan McMonagle, Ben Kenny; David Hill, Joe Mulraney, Andrew Hill; Daniel Grehan, Killian Galligan; Aedan Boyle, Mark Nolan, Caelum Flanagan; Jimmy Lynch, Cein McMonagle, Rory Phelan. Subs: Conor O'Donoghue for Conor Grehan (half-time), Rian Cully for Aedan Boyle (46 minutes), Joe McElduff for Rory Phelan (53 minutes), Robbie Dunne for Caelum Flanagan (56 minutes).

Referee: Brendan Cawley

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