Controversy reigns before recount has honours shared

7 May 2014

FORTUNES ebbed and flowed in this ultra-competitive derby encounter at Ardtole on Friday night before a draw was declared after a countback of scores.

Initially, the match official indicated that Kilclief had won by a point, but after checking his scores with members of the press, a draw was signalled, which was the correct outcome.

Ardglass could never have hoped for a better start against their close neighbours. David Pullen, who lined out at right half back, won the ball wide right after an untidy conclusion to the throw-in. He immediately embarked on a searing run into the heart of the Kilclief defence, which just parted.

Despite seeming to over carry the ball on more than one occasion, Pullen just kept on going and going and before you knew it, the ball was nestling in the back for a sensational opening.

The stunned visitors had barely time to draw breath when Christian O’Connor pointed from play to give Ardglass a 1-1 to 0-0 lead with only 60 seconds on the clock. John Polly quickly tagged on a point to extend Ardglass’ lead as Kilclief struggled to get a foothold.

The enterprising Eoin King tried to launch Kilclief forward with some intelligent distribution and on another occasion had to forage alone. Unfortunately, his parting shot hit the wood work and rebounded to Conan Hynds, but Stephen Moore did well to block his fierce drive from close in.

Kilclief finally got on the scoreboard in the 10th minute when Conor Sloan pointed from play and the same player then had a hand in his side’s first goal when he laid off a quick free into Johnny Hanvey.

The experienced midfielder was on a mission and he shrugged off a couple of challenges before blasting the ball past a helpless Moore to leave a single point between the sides.

Aiden McCann brought the sides level in the 15th minute with a well worked score, but Ardglass responded with a similar score from Chris Armstrong to give his side a 1-3 to 1-2 lead.

Ciaran Dorrian and Mark Polly swapped scores before Kilclief lost the influential Ronan Strain to a nasty looking hand injury that required hospital treatment and he was replaced by player/manager Liam Woods.

Dale Curran pointed the sides level in the 21st minute, but Kilclief then took command and further points from Eoin Curran, Polly and King gave the visitors a 1-7 to 1-4 lead at the break.

Kilclief lost a second player just before the break when the creative Conor Sloan limped out of the action to be replaced by Conor Shields.

Kilclief started the second half on top and a Caolean Savage gave them a four point advantage in the first minute and quickly made it a five point game when he converted a 21m free five minutes later.

Suddenly, Ardglass regained the initiative and unanswered points from the busy Eamon Trimble (3), and Polly (2) had the sides level by the 44th minute. Ardglass maintained their purple patch and points from Dorrian and O’Connor gave them a 1-11 to 1-9 lead with 12 minutes remaining.

Ardglass then lost James Telford a to a black card, but they continued to ask the questions and Stephen Rooney pointed them into a three point lead.

Kilclief looked like lost souls at this stage, but they somehow conjured up an equalising goal in the 56th minute when a Niall Hynds scored a rare goal, even rarer as is was with his left foot, following a brilliant run from Curran.

Both sides had chances to win the game in a frenetic, final few minutes, but the draw was the fairest result.

Ardglass: S. Moore, M. Crangle, D. Kearney, M. O’Shea, D. Pullen (1-0), C. Dorrian (0-2), S. Teggart, S. Rooney (0-1), J. Polly (0-3), S. P. Halpin, E. Trimble (0-3), C. O’Connor (0-2), C. Armstrong (0-1), M. Armstrong, D. Armstrong. Subs: J. Telford for M. Armstrong, E. McEvoy for O’Shea, C. Flynn for Telford (black card).

Kilclief: J. Swail, S. Cultra, A. Fitzsimons, N. Hynds (1-0), E. King (0-1), Ryan Kerr, A. McCann (0-1), R. Strain, J. Hanvey (1-0), M. Polly (0-2), C. Sloan (0-1), C. Savage (0-2), C. Hynds, E. Curran (0-1), D. Curran (0-1). Subs: L. Woods for Strain, C. Shields for Sloan, N. Curran for Hynds, P. Kerr for Cultra.

Ardglass 1-12

Kilclief 2-9

ACFL DIVISION 3

Tweets by @TheDownRecorder