Kilmeen hit gold on third attempt
- ️Denis Hurley
- ️Sat Jul 25 2015
Beaten finalists against Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas in 2012 and Castlelyons last year, the Carbery side had won their four matches en route to the final by an average of 12 points and saved the best for last as they dominated throughout.
Inside 10 minutes, they were 1-3 to no score ahead and by half-time the lead was 3-7 to 0-2 as Grange struggled.
Kilmeen manager Gavin Twohig was delighted with how his team had put past disappointments behind them.
“It’s super, 1984 was the last time we had any bit of success,” he said. “It makes it all the sweeter when you’ve lost two finals. We probably got caught last year with a late goal, but the lads didn’t feel under any pressure. We were confident coming up tonight.”
The tone was set from the very start. Despite playing with the wind, Grange withdrew attackers back into defence but still found themselves over-run. After Damien O’Gorman opened the scoring in the fifth minute, he then struck for a goal immediately afterwards, rounding off a lovely move involving Ray Collins and Shane O’Donovan.
Dominating the kickouts, Kilmeen could even afford four wides by the ninth minute and were 1-5 to the good when O’Donovan got their second goal, with Darragh Coakley and James Clancy the architects. There was no stopping the blue tide and, with corner-back Darren Kelleher operating well as a spare man, Darren Santry and O’Donovan stretched the lead further, before Jonathan Deasy raised a third green flag. He converted the rebound in the 23rd minute after O’Gorman’s shot came back off the crossbar.
It would prove to be their last score of the half, with Grange getting off the mark before half-time through Michael Hennessy and David Keating, but a 14-point half-time advantage, 3-7 to 0-2, was never likely to be overhauled.
Full-forward Clancy made his presence felt on the scoreboard upon the resumption, kicking two fine points and O’Gorman was only denied a second goal by the woodwork after he got his fist to Santry’s free kick.
They didn’t have long to wait for goal number four, though. It was similar to the third in that, once more, a shot cannoned back off the bar and an attacker profited, Shane O’Donovan on hand for his second after Collins was unlucky not to see his shot go in.
Grange did get three points in a row, two from Seán McCarthy sandwiching one by Hennessy, though Kilmeen should have added more goals in between that surge, as Santry first shot wide and was then denied by a good Derek Slattery save.
Just after the three-quarter mark, Clancy added to his fine performance when he dispossessed Slattery after Jonathan Deasy’s delivery and then slotted home. That made it 5-9 to 0-5 and the closing 10 minutes were a procession, five unanswered points as Kilmeen enjoyed themselves and exorcised past demons.
Scorers for Kilmeen:
D O’Gorman 1-4 (three frees, one 45), S O’Donovan 2-1, James Clancy 1-2, D Santry 0-4 (one free), J Deasy 1-0, D O’Donovan 0-2, K Keohane 0-1.
Scorers for Grange:
S McCarthy, M Hennessy 0-2 each, D Keating 0-1.
KILMEEN:
W Tyner; L O’Brien, B McSweeney, B Keohane; D O’Leary, D McCarthy, R Collins; B O’Donovan, J Clancy; J Deasy, S O’Donovan, D Coakley; D Santry, J Clancy, D O’Gorman.
Subs:
K Keohane for Deasy (47), F O’Sullivan for Coakley (50), D O’Donovan for Santry (51), S Scannell for O’Leary (54), O Scannell for O’Brien (55), D McSweeney for James Clancy (57).
GRANGE:
D Slattery; K Murphy, P Browne, B Cashman; D Roche, M Hennessy, G Burke; D Roche, K Wheeler; L Tobin, N Barry, N McCarthy; R Hanrahan, D Keating, S McCarthy.
Subs:
N Cashman for Murphy (13), J O’Gorman for Tobin (47), J Roche for Cashman (49), C Roche for Burke (54), K Kelleher for Hanrahan (59).
Referee:
A O’Connor (Ballygarvan).