Clane beat Moorefield to last eight place
The strength of Kevin Murnaghan's Moorefield jersey is tested by Clane's Adam Fitzpatrick
14-man Clane overpowered Moorefield in the second half to claim top spot in Group C of the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship, assuring themselves in the process of a last eight clash with either Naas or Sarsfields.
Moorefield, who had to field without county players Aaron Masterson and Ryan Houlihan, will now be straight back into action next week in a Preliminary Quarter Final against Maynooth, but they can have few complaints having failed to take advantage of an extra man from the 22nd minute onwards after the sending off of Clane’s Seán Dunne.
Dunne was issued a straight red for an off-the-ball strike on the towering Dan O’Callaghan in the Clane penalty area, right under the nose of the umpires who had no hesitation in drawing referee Fergus Devereux’s attention. The punishment was doubly painful for Dunne as Devereux awarded a penalty which Evan O’Brien duly despatched.
When Adam Tyrrell added a point a minute later Moorefield were well in the ascendancy leading 1-7 to 0-5, having benefitted from earlier two-pointers from Eoin Meehan and Ciaran Kelly playing with the wind into the town end, but a bizarre game would turn the way of the short-handed Clane men soon enough.
They started their recovery with a Shane O’Sullivan goal on 26 minutes and the centre-forward went on to put in a huge display, ending up with 1-10 to his credit, while Adam Fanning was another big influence, weighing in with 2-4.
Moorefield were two ahead (1-8 to 1-6) at half-time but that might have been five had Ciaran Kelly’s shot not been saved by Cian Burke just before the interval. Kelly had earlier spurned another goal chance when he finished to the net but took too many steps in doing so.
With both teams already guaranteed a place in the knockout stages, the second half should perhaps not be taken too seriously in the greater scheme of things, but it was Clane who will take most confidence from a strangely open half hour.
With Brian McLoughlin pulling the strings around the middle with his passing, O’Sullivan and Fanning had the beating of their men inside and after a two-pointer from Sam McCormack levelled things, McLoughlin dispossessed Mark Dempsey on the terrace sideline, fed O’Sullivan and he set up Fanning for a finish to the net despite Tom Kinsella getting something on it.
Adam Fitzpatrick might have added a third Clane goal shortly afterwards but blazed over the bar before a wicked deflection off Shane McCormack helped Tyrrell’s shot outfox county goalkeeper Burke down at the Kilcullen End for Moorefield’s second goal.
With the second half still only eleven minutes old we had our third goal of the half, Fanning despatching his second to the net after Kinsella had blocked his first attempt.
There was still only two points between the sides entering the last ten minutes with Clane 3-10 to 2-11 ahead but the men in white could sense it was to be their day when Fanning struck for a masterful two-pointer to stretch four them clear.
Three singles in a row from O’Sullivan (two) and McLoughlin emphasised their superiority and the excellent O’Sullivan added a two-pointer for good measure to stretch their advantage to nine with three minutes left.
Manager Paul Kelly will perhaps be concerned by the concession of two late goals to Moorefield defenders, though.
Kevin Murnaghan claimed Mark Murray’s free and finished adroitly and although O’Sullivan responded with another two-pointer, full-back Dempsey beat the luckless Burke with another deflected effort. That was too little too late for Moorefield though and they’ll be hoping to get some of their walking wounded back before that clash with Maynooth next weekend.
Cian Burke; James Donlon, Harry O'Neill, Hugh Prendergast; Cian Shanahan, Tadhg Montgomery, Shane McCormack; Sam McCormack 0-3 (1tp), Sean Tighe 0-1; Sean Dunne, Shane O'Sullivan 1-10 (2tps,0-3fs), Adam Fitzpatrick 0-1; Adam Fanning 2-4 (1tp), Brian McLoughlin 0-1, Oisin Tighe. Subs: Callum Doran for Shane McCormack 40, Seán Callan for Fitzpatrick 49, Daniel Colbert for S Tighe 54, Cormac Vizzard 0-1 for Sam McCormack 60+2.
Tom Kinsella; Liam Callaghan, Mark Dempsey 1-1, Liam Healy; Sean Dempsey, Kevin Murnaghan 1-0, Dan Hanniffy; Ryan Moore 0-1, Dan O'Callaghan 0-1; Eoin Meehan 0-2 (tp), Ciaran Kelly 0-2 (tp), Luke Sweeney; Evan O'Brien 1-4 (1-0pen,0-1f), Adam Tyrrell 1-1, Mark Murray. Subs: Dylan Cosgrove for Healy 39, James Murray for O’Callaghan 42, Jason Phillips for Sweeney 51.
Fergus Devereux.
