Kilcoo survive early pressure

Kilcoo survive early pressure

14 August 2019

KILCOO survived a torrid examination from a resourceful and hungry An Riocht at Burren on Friday night.

The Magpies were forced to dig deep, despite the final score as An Riocht put the Frank O’Hare Cup hopefuls to the pin of their collar.

Caomhan Campbell gave An Riocht an early lead, but this was quickly cancelled by Darryl Branagan. Two Marty Devlin points edged Kilcoo into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after 23 minutes of intense football, but An Riocht finished the half on a high and points from Conor Clarke, Ronan Campbell and Stephen Doran sent them in at the break with a hard-earned 0-4 to 0-3 lead.

Kilcoo were a completely different proposition in the second half as they staked their claim with panache and power.

Ronan Campbell and Darryl Branagan swapped scores at the start of the second half, but once Kilcoo got into their stride there was just no stopping them as An Riocht’s scores simply dried up.

Points from Shealan Johnston and Anthony Morgan gave Kilcoo a 0-6 to 0-5 in the 35th minute, and that was that.

Four points from Paul Devlin were added to by a goal and a point from Jerome Johnstone as Kilcoo wrapped things up in a disciplined fashion.

Kilcoo scorers: Paul Devlin (0-4), Jerome Johnston (1-1), Darryl Branagan (0-2), Marty Devlin (0-2), Anthony Morgan (0-1), Shealan Johnston (0-1). 

An Riocht: Ronan Campbell (0-2), Caomhan Campbell (0-1), Conor Clarke (0-1), Stephen Doran (0-1).