Wides galore as Kiladangan fall over the line against Éire Óg Annacarty

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship - Round 2

Kiladangan 1-18

Éire Óg Annacarty/Donohill 0-9

Kiladangan just about managed to get the job done in Dolla earlier this evening, with an extremely strong final five minutes where they reeled off 1-6 without reply and eventually downed a very hardworking and stubborn Éire Óg outfit in this group four encounter.

Kiladangan were made to work very hard throughout the match, but it was their uncharacteristically poor and erratic shooting which kept Éire Óg in the game for large spells, particularly in the first half as they ended the period with a huge total of 13 wides.

As per usual, Éire Óg were very difficult to break down with their defence playing very well for large spells, with Brian and Tom Fox hurling well, while Conor O’Brien was very impressive at full back, but they could never really land a punch on Kiladangan and were wasteful themselves, with some poor wides sucking the life out of them in the second half with only one score separating the sides during this period.

It didn’t take long for the deficiencies which would plague Kiladangan’s efforts to rear its head in the opening ten minutes of the game, despite dominating proceedings where they took a 0-3 to nil lead by the 11th minute, they hit some awful wides in between, hitting five poor wides between their first and second points from Sean Hayes and Joe Gallagher.

The lead was extended to four points through the talismanic figure of Alan Flynn from range in the 12th minute, and you got the impression that if Kiladangan could be clinical they could put the game out of Éire Óg’s reach early doors. 

But the aforementioned radar malfunction kept it tighter than it should have been and the west men got their first score of the day through a well taken Conor O’Brien point from play after a strong run down the wing from Brian Fox.

One man who was nailing his opportunities was Alan Flynn who kept the Kiladangan scoreboard rolling with another long range effort a few minutes later, but it would be Éire Óg who would narrow the gap up to the 22nd minute, with points from Aidan Griffin (free), and two Eoin Bradshaw points that would bring the game close again at 0-5 to 0-4.

It’s hard to understand why the Kiladangan shooting was so poor, but it was really sucking the life out of the north men, and breathing belief and life into the Éire Óg players. However, the marking was a bit lax in patches in the final ten minutes of the half, as a few efforts did find their range for Kiladangan as Paul Flynn, Willie Connors, and Bryan McLoughney finding the target as they took a 0-8 to 0-5 lead in at half time.

The conditions and visibility would deteriorate as the second half wore on, and that definitely played a part in the error strewn game, but Éire Óg had lady luck to thank just 15 seconds after the restart, with Sean Hayes effort for goal striking the frame of the top right hand corner,

Billy Seymour would point his first of two scores in a quiet game for the former county panellist in the 33rd minute just after Darragh Mooney denied Paul Flynn with a good save, but the Éire Óg players would start to claw their way into the game.

Points from Paudie Bradshaw, Aidan Griffin, and a monster Darragh Mooney effort from a free would cut the gap to a single point by the 40th minute with Kiladangan ahead narrowly at 0-9 to 0-8.

Unfortunately for Éire Óg, this was as close as it would get and despite keeping the game tight in the following ten minutes as Kiladangan struggled to shrug them off, the legs would eventually give up on the dual club, with Kiladangan’s class eventually showing, as Aidan Griffin left at least three very scorable frees by his own standards behind in this period.

Unanswered points from Tadhg and Joe Gallagher (2), Willie Connors, Paul Flynn, Bryan McLoughney and an extremely well finished goal from the latter after being set up by substitute Tom O’Meara, finally sealed a badly needed win for the recent county champions as they moved one step closer to a quarter-final berth.

Scorers: Kiladangan: Bryan McLoughney (1-3, 0-1), Sean Hayes, Joe Gallagher 0-3 each, Paul Flynn, Willie Connors, Tadhg Gallagher 0-2 each, Alan Flynn 0-2f, Billy Seymour.

Éire Óg Annacarty/Donohill: Aidan Griffin (0-3, 0-2f), Eoin Bradshaw 0-2, Conor O’Brien, Paudie Bradshaw, Darragh Mooney, Kevin Fox 0-1 each.

Kiladangan: Barry Hogan; Fergal Hayes, James Quigley, John O’Meara; Darren Moran, Alan Flynn, David Sweeney; Tadhg Gallagher, Jack Loughnane; Sean Hayes, Joe Gallagher, Willie Connors; Bryan McLoughney, Paul Flynn, Billy Seymour.

Subs: Decky McGrath for Loughnane (21); Tom O’Meara for Seymour (44); Dan O’Meara for Moran (58); Conor Byrne for Connors (61, inj).

Éire Óg Annacarty/Donohill: Darragh Mooney; David Fox, Conor O’Brien, Mickey Bradshaw; Paul Downey, Brian Fox, Paul Devlin; Paudie Bradshaw; Seanie Ryan; Tom Fox, Eoin Bradshaw, Aidan Griffin; Dinny Crosse, Cian Mooney, Donal O’Dwyer.

Subs: Kevin Fox for C Mooney (38); Paidi O’Dwyer for Crosse (45); Pat Aherne for E Bradshaw (58).

Referee: Joe Leahy (Moyne Templetuohy)