Decisive Darragh sink Kilclief

12 August 2015

KILCLIEF may have been well beaten at the final whistle, but they certainly didn’t make life easy for Darragh in a tough clash at Pairc Tomas Ruiseil on Sunday.

Darragh knew they had been in a contest, despite their 13-point winning margin, as Kilclief challenged fiercely for every ball, and fought tooth and nail to put their opponents out of their stride.

It wasn’t to be enough as their sweeper system was breached in the third minute when Shane Murray opened the scoring with a 14m free in the third minute.

Kilclief responded in the only way they know and resolutely swept the ball forward to Conor Sloan, who tapped it into the path of Conor Hynds who blasted to the net.

Shane Murray and Anton McGrattan brought the sides level by the 13th minute, but a 40m free from Ciaran Sloan edged Kilclief into a 1-1 to 0-3 lead.

Darragh were having to drive forward in numbers in a bid to get through Kilclief’s defensive formation, but points from Callum Murray and Steven Dineen had them 0-5 to 1-1 clear by the 22nd minute.

Darragh were now in the ascendancy and points from Michael Monan and Shane Murray and a cracking goal from Mark McMahon gave Brendan Mason’s side a 1-7 to 1-1 lead after 28 minutes.

Darragh continued to pile on the pressure and their measured approach yielded a further point from Shane Murray to give his side a 1-8 to 1-1 lead at the break.

Shane Murray (2) and Mark McMahon tagged on points at the start of the second half before a Ciaran Sloan free kept Kilclief ticking over. Darragh were not found wanting in the final quarter and points from Marcus Miskelly and Shane Murray gave Darragh a 1-13 to 1-2 lead.

Ciaran Sloan lofted over two points for Kilclief, but it was always going to be Darragh’s day and a late point from Shane Murray and a goal from Callum Murray finished off the scoring.

Darragh Cross: R Miskelly, S Timoney, O McConvey, P Branney, C Murray (1-1), S Dineen (0-1), J Murray, J McKinney, T McMahon, M McMahon (1-1), P Murray, M Monan (0-1), S Murray (0-8), M Hardy, A McGrattan (0-1). Subs: D Mageean for J Murray, M Miskelly (0-1) for McGrattan, G O’Sullivan for Hardy J Flynn for P Murray, M Canavan for Timoney.

Kilclief: M Polly, A Connor, E King, S Cultra, A McCann, L McMullan, J Hanvey, K Shields, J McGrath, O Curran, Ciaran Sloan (0-4), C Hynds (1-0), F Conway, Conor Sloan, L Woods. Subs: D McMullan for King, E Breen for Hynds, C Curran for McGrath, C Shields for Cultra, A Fitzsimons for Connor.

Darragh Cross 2-14

Kilclief 1-4

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