|
Under 16 hurling
championship quarter final played in Oranmore on Thursday August 30th
Kilnadeema/Leitrim 1.13
Carnmore 3.15
Having both qualified
successfully
from their groups the under 16 hurlers of Kilnadeema/Leitrim and
Carnmore meet in a quarter final that neither club really wanted at this
stage as both would have been regarded as having a good chance of
winning the overall competition. The game was played on a lovely Autumn
evening in Oranmore on Thursday August 30th. Even though the venue was
in good condition, it was regarded as been very unfair to bring
Kilnadeema/Leitrim to a venue so close to the opposition. Carnmore who
are very highly regarded having reached the semi final of Feile na nGeal
two years ago with this team and are probably playing a grade below
where they really should be in this competition made a very strong
start to the game when Aaron Fox pointed from play in the first minute.
Padraig Stapleton and Cathal King then shot early wides for
Kilnadeema/Leitrim before Daniel Fox extended Carnmore's lead on 5
minutes with another point. Carnmore's county under 16 star Donal Fox,
who had a wonderful game all through pointed a long range free on 12
mins before Dara Herlihy opened Kilnadeema/Leitrim's account with
a point from play a minute later. Kilnadeema/Leitrim were now settled
down and they closed the gap to one point on 15 minutes when Full
Forward Gary Curley pointed from play. Aaron Fox with another point for
Carnmore made it 0.02 to 0.04 soon after before Matthew Moran and Daniel
Fox extended their lead to four by 18 minutes with two more points from
play. It looked very bad for Kilnadeema/Leitrim immediately after when
Matthew Moran crashed home a goal for Carnmore to open up a seven point
lead which was a major gap at this early stage in the contest.
Kilnadeema/Leitrim really showed why they are been regarded so highly in
the next eight minutes as they scored 1.02 without replay. First Cathal
King and Midfielder Michael Donoghue had points from play before Nathan
Moran missed a goal chance to close the gap. He made up for this miss
soon afterwards though when he scored a goal on 28 minutes to move his
side to within two of the reds. Aaron Fox with his third point and Gary
Curley then swopted points from play before Donal Fox closed the scoring
in the first half with a long range point from play to leave the score
reading 1.05 to 1.08 at the break. Kilnadeema/Leitrim would have the
advantage of the breeze in the second half and were still in with a very
good chance of taking a big scalp in the competition at this stage. They
started the second half very much on top in many area's of the field and
with Dara Herlihy and Cathal King in great scoring form they had
Carnmore a very worried team. Dara drove them on with three points in
the first 5 minutes, two from 65's and a point from play with Matthew
Moran shooting Carnmore's first score of the half in between to leave
just a point between the team. Then on seven minutes we had a brilliant
save from Kilnadeema/Leitrim and Galway county goalie Paul Howard who
dived full stretch to push away a certain goal. Then for the next few
minutes we were entertained with the Cathal King show who played
probably the best ever game for the club and ended the day with four
points from play and many other chances that went narrowly wide. Between
the 12 and 14th minute Cathal shot three points from play to put
Kilnadeema/Leitrim two points up and looking very good. Carnmore sensed
they were in trouble and soon were level with points from Donal and
Aaron Fox to leave the score line reading 1.11 each. Daithi Donoghue who
had just been moved to Centre Half Forward then scored a lovely point on
18 minutes before Daniel Fox levelled it up again 2 minutes later. Glen
McArdle and Gary Curley then exchanged points to leave it still level
with seven minutes to play. Daniel Fox put Carnmore back in front two
minutes later as the game moved from end to end. The big breakthrough in
the game came soon after when Aaron Fox struck for a vital goal after a
defensive mistake to put four points between the sides.
Kilnadeema/Leitrim tried so hard to get back into the game and had a few
great chances to get a goal back especially a great shot from Mark Kelly
which was brilliantly saved. Donal Fox with another long range free put
five between the sides before substitute Paul Fox shot another goal in
injury time to finally put an end to a great game as Carnmore progressed
to the semi final on a final score line of 3.15 to 1.13. This was a very
unfair score board for Kilnadeema/Leitrim to look at as they gave as
good as they got for long periods and had had every chance with seven
minutes to play. This was a good campaign for this team which could have
ended even better with a bit of luck. For most of these lads now their
attention will turn to the Minor quarter final with Kiltormer. They
might have something to celebrate yet.
Scorers: Dara Herlihy 0.04, Cathal King 0.04, Gary Curley 0.03,
Nathan Moran 1.00, Michael Donoghue 0.01, Daithi Donoghue 0.01.
Team Lineout: Paul Howard,
James Conway, Martin Costello, Conor Fahy, Damien Donoghue,
Padraig Stapleton, Padraig Forde, Mark Kelly, Alvin Mitchell, Daithi
Donoghue, Dara
Herlihy, Cathal King, Michael Donoghue, Gary Curley,
Nathan Moran.
|
