Celbridge steamroll Allenwood in statement victory
Celbridge's James Dolan is surrounded by Allenwod's Daragh Malone and Callum O'Reilly Photo: Michael Anderson
Celbridge made a statement of intent on this Saturday-evening clash with Allenwood in Clane, with a 26-point opening-day win in the Joe Mallon Motor Group Senior Football Championship.
The blues were 15 points ahead at the break, and with goals constantly coming at them, Allenwood couldn’t stop the leak to their dismay as Celbridge steamrolled them.
After topping Division 1, Celbridge were in a good place despite a disappointing end to the league campaign, and Alan Costello would no doubt have put a Senior County title as a main priority for his squad.
Allenwood were also in a good position heading into this game, and have silverware already in the bag after Mark Muirnaghan’s charges claimed the Division 2 title, and with it promotion to the top flight in the Kildare League.
Celbridge signalled what was to come after just two minutes, when after Niall O’Regan’s effort for a point fell short, Paddy Wall was there to collect the loose ball and slot it into the net for the first of many. Allenwood responded well thanks to points from Eoin Bagnall and Jamie Gartland in the fifth minute, but from here Celbridge took complete control. There would be no stopping the steamroller.
After Mick O’Grady’s goal effort came crashing off the crossbar, points followed from Luke Murray, James Dolan and Aaron Browne before Darragh Malone responded for Allenwood on 15 minutes.
Celbridge resumed their push straight afterwards thanks to Aaron Browne, before goalkeeper Shane McNamara came up to kick a two-pointed free straight between the posts. He would score another free before the half ended. Niall O’Regan pointed during this time too, moments before Eoin Bagnall cut the gap down to seven with a free for Allenwood.
Further points from Luke Murray and James Dolan followed before Killian Browne in the 27th minute and brother Aaron three minutes afterwards would both expertly finish off superbly slick team moves with a goal each. This put Celbridge 3-10 to 0-4 ahead at half-time.
The game was well and truly over as a contest by the 40th minute. Soon after Killian Browne’s sweetly struck two-pointer after 34 minutes, James Dolan would find the net moments later, and Celbridge’s constant off-the-ball running was tearing Allenwood to shreds.
Peter McAteer would come off the bench to score a brace of goals in the 39th and 40th minute, the first may have been guided home off the face of a retreating Allenwood defender, but the second was calmly rolled past Stephen Carey, and the scoreboard was beginning to look ugly.
Allenwood did battle back, and on 43 minutes, Cormac Denagher would swivel and lob his effort over Shane McNamara and into the net. That and Eoin Bagnall’s two-pointed free at the end of the match were positives at least for the sky blues.
Celbridge pressed on however, and Aaron Browne would kick an excellent two-pointer off his right before the match would conclude. They had standout performers all over the pitch, and Alan Costello will no doubt have a headache on who to start against Clane the next day.
Shane McNamara 0-3 (1tpf, 1f); Eoghan Light, Dean O’Donoghue, Cian Powell; Liam O’Flynn, Mick O’Grady 0-1, Tony Archbold; Fergal Conway, Paddy Wall 1-0; Mick Konstantin, Niall O’Regan 0-1, Killian Browne 1-2 (tp); James Dolan 1-2, Aaron Browne 1-5 (1tp, 0-1f), Luke Murray 0-4.
Peter McAteer 2-0 for Archbold and Kevin O’Callaghan for Wall (both 35), Kevin Flynn 0-2 for Conway and Davy Hughes 0-2 for Dolan (both 40), Darragh Finnegan for Konstantin (50).
Stephen Carey; Ronan Guilfoyle, Sean Moran, TJ Moore; Brendan Hanafey 0-1, Darragh Malone 0-2, Jamie Gartland 0-1; John Dee, Alex Lenehan; Rory Moran, Joey Cunningham, Mark Delaney; Eoin Bagnall 0-6 (1tpf, 4f), Johnny Byrne 0-1, Cormac Denagher 1-0.
Sean Dunne for Cunningham (12), Callum O’Reilly for Guilfoyle and Fionn Moran for Moore (both HT), Colm Moran for Moran and Arron Dunne for Gartland (both 37).
Alan Archbold.
