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Intermediate
team pushed all the way in championship opener
Kilnadeema/Leitrim 1.16 Clarenbridge 1.13
Kilnadeema/Leitrim Intermediate
team under the management of John Whelan
started off the 2008 championship season in
Loughrea on Sunday April 27th against
Clarenbridge. With many players missing off last
year's team for various reasons, the team went
into this game not quiet knowing what to expect
as Clarenbridge has shown good form in recent
league games and also as Kilnadeema/leitrim
were giving championship debut's to three
players. Conditions were not very good
throughout the game with constant rain
throughout the game making it very slippery.
Clarenbridge showed from the very first minute
they would be no pushover as they struck the
first two points, both from corner forward James
Conlon, this after the 'bridge goalkeeper Noel
Conlon had made a brilliant save from David
Tierney, a feat he would repeat shortly
afterwards again from another David Tierney goal
bound shot. David did finally get the team off
the mark on 7 mins with a point from play.
Clarenbridge sporting many players who won
senior medals in 2001 and one of those is Dara
Coen, who still is a brilliant free taker and he
showed this many times during the game. He got
the first of two of those on 8 and 10 minutes
with Michael Regan scoring a brilliant point
which was sandwiched between Dara's scores.
Michael Regan added a second a few minutes later
before Coen and Tom Tierney swopted pointed
free's after 14 minutes. At this stage Tom began
to have a big roll to play on the score board as
he shot the next four points, three from play to
put Kilnadeema/Leitrim 3 points ahead after
twenty minutes. Dara Coen then added two more
pointed free's before David Tierney and Liam
Madden swopted points to close out the half on a
score line 0f 0.09 to 0.07 in the East Galway
team's favour. Sean Burke, who didn't start the
game due to exams was introduced at halftime and
played a key roll from then to the finish. Dara
Coen opened the scoring in the second half with
another pointed free. Tom and David Tierney then
shot two points to leave three between the
sides. Stephen Forde then shot a brilliant point
for Clarenbridge before the first big major of
the game arrived when David Tierney finally got
the ball pasted the Clarenbridge goalie to put
five between the sides and we wondered would
Kilnadeema/Leitrim push on from this and close
out the game. Dara Coen with a pointed free and
another from play from Stephen Forde kept the
'Bridge in contention after 9 mins 1.11 to 0.11.
Tom Tierney added another point from a free
before the second goal arrived when Dara Coen
rolled back the years to score a clinical goal
pasted a helpless Mark Herlihy. Aiden Spaight
was then introduced to the Kilnadeema/Leitrim
defence. Niall Tierney has a big say in the
outcome towards the finish with two well taken
points from play. Brian Carr added one for
Clarenbridge's Padraic Cormican did
likewise to leave the minimum in it with two
minutes to play. Try as they might Clarenbridge
couldn't get the equaliser and
Kilnadeema/Leitrim made it safe towards the
finish with two points from Tom Tierney and
Brian Daniels to close out the game with a three
point winning margin on a final score line of
1.16 to 1.13. While this was a very exciting
game at times. it does not hide the fact that
Kilnadeema/leitrim have a lot of work to do even
before they meet Killimordaly in two weeks time.
Scorers: Tom Tierney 0.08, David Tierney 1.03,
Niall Tierney 0.02, Michael Regan 0.02, Brian
Daniels 0.01.
Team Lineout: Mark Herlihy, Gearoid Whelan,
Kevin Boyle, Patrick Deely, Liam Geargthy, Eamon
Hyland, Brian Gardiner, Niall Tierney, David
Spellman, Brian Daniels, David Tierney, Brian
Costello, Michael Regan. Tom Tierney, Eoin
Larkin.
Subs used: Sean Burke and Aiden Spaight.
Liam Geargthy
takes the ball out of defence against
Clarenbridge
David Spellman stops Stephen Forde in his tracks
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