Late Kilcock comeback falls short as Clane hang on for nervy win
Clane's Adam Fanning in possession
Clane survived a late onslaught that yielded three goals for Kilcock as they joined Moorefield at the top of Group C of the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship at Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
Paul Kelly’s side seemed to have left a lively Kilcock for dead when leading by eleven points (1-19 to 0-11) with eight minutes remaining.
But Kilcock will take confidence from their resilience as they head into what looks like a battle against relegation for the second year in a row.
Eoghan Flood raised the first green flag for them, getting in behind marker James Donlon to finish neatly passed Cian Burke. Then, with six minutes left, county midfielder Brendan Gibbons put a quiet game behind him when waltzing through and burying a rocket to the top right corner.
Three minutes later brother Mark almost narrowed the gap to two but his piledriver struck the upright with Burke beaten, and McLoughlin gave Clane breathing space with a two-point free to bring his tally to 0-9.
There was still another goal in Kilcock. In the fourth minute of injury time, Brendan Gibbons palmed home from point blank range, but time had run out for his side.
A long day had looked in store for Kilcock when Clane burst into a five-point lead within seven minutes of the start, the highlight being a two-pointer from county star McLoughlin.
But Kilcock were lively, no one more so than Shane O’Rourke and he got them off the mark in the eighth minute, on his way to four first-half points from play from the corner forward.
The half developed into an end-to-end shoot-out with Shane O’Sullivan landing three for Clane and McLoughlin prominent too, but if Burke’s one-handed save hadn’t denied Brendan Gibbons a goal on 22 minutes, the gap could have been down to a single point.
As it was, it was Clane who pinched a crucial goal four minutes from half-time, Seán Tighe finishing off a flowing move and helping them to a six-point half-time advantage (1-12 to 0-9).
Kilcock, despite having the breeze behind them into the Kilcullen goal, struggled to keep in touch with substitute Killian O’Sullivan adding pep to the Clane attack, scoring two points to boot.
Kilcock were outscored by seven points to two in the opening twenty minutes of the second half, before they raised their game and found their goal touch to make it a nervy ending for the eventual winners.
Cian Burke; Eoin Twohig, Sean Callan, Hugh Prendergast; James Donlon, Tadhg Montgomery, Cian Shanahan; Sam McCormack 0-2, Shane McCormack 0-1; Shane O'Sullivan 0-3 (1f), Brian McLoughlin 0-9 (1tp,1tpf,2fs), Adam Fanning; Sean Tighe 1-1, Adam Fitzpatrick 0-2, Oisin Tighe 0-1. Subs: Sean Dunne for Twohig h-t, Stephen Brereton for Shane McCormack h-t, Killian O’Sullivan 0-2 for Fanning 39, Daniel Colbert for S O’Sullivan 51, Eoin Walsh for Brereton 58.
Jack Kelly; Sean Eves, Johnny O'Sullivan, Mark Durkan; Finn Dowling, Conor Lawless, Daniel Byrne; Brendan Gibbons 2-0, Mark Gibbons; Keith Farrell 0-1, Andrew Dalton 0-1, Joseph Fitzmaurice 0-2 (2fs); Daniel Maguire, Ciaran Murray 0-1, Shane O'Rourke 0-5. Subs: Dylan Morrow for Eves 27, Eoghan Flood 1-0 for Fitzmaurice 37, Michael Stokes 0-1 for O’Rourke 44, Cian O’Sullivan for Maguire 48, Cormac Divilly for Farrell 61.
Billy O’Connell
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