Maynooth warm up for semis with easy win over 13-man Coill Dubh
Maynooth's Conor O'Grady holds off the strong challenge of Coill Dubh defender Niall Keane. Photo: Sean Brilly
Maynooth eased into the semi-finals of the UPMC Senior Hurling Championship with a facile 23-point win over thirteen-man Coill Dubh at Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Sunday.
While Coill Dubh may point to first-half red cards for Mark Delaney and John Dee being instrumental in their downfall, the writing was already on the wall before the first dismissal on fourteen minutes, when Delaney went for a foul stroke on Dan O’Meara.
Tadhg Forde’s opportunist goal from O’Meara third minute delivery, flicked home under pressure from goalkeeper Ross Carew and defender Fionn Moran, had already helped Maynooth into a 1-6 to 0-3 lead by the time of Delaney’s exit.
Elusive corner-forward Tom Power’s two goals stretched the advantage to 3-9 to 0-5 by the time Dee was sent to the line on 23 minutes for a high challenge on Kevin Dunne under the nose of the linesman on the terrace side.
While Maynooth looked likely winners from the start, those dismissals ended the game as any sort of contest with attention turning to the action over in Hawkfield where a Confey win could have given Coill Dubh a lifeline in their quest for a semi-final spot.
Despite the gap widening in their own game, Coill Dubh looked for a long time as if the “mini league” approach to three teams being tied would rescue their chances but Éire Óg Corra Choill’s late recovery put paid to that hope and instead they dropped into the relegation semi-finals where they’ll meet Clane.
Frees from Delaney (two) and Johnny Byrne were all Coill Dubh could produce in response to Maynooth’s early blitz which included six points spread among five players (Ciaran Dunne, O’Meara, Power and Martin Quilty with one apiece and the impressive Conor O’Grady with two).
After points from Power (free) and Kevin Dunne drew two in response from Byrne, Maynooth cemented their advantage thanks to 2-1 in the space of little over two minutes from Power. Ross Carew got a stick to his first effort but couldn’t keep it out and after he added a point from play, Power punished Coill Dubh further when finishing to the net from a Tadhg Forde pass.
Coill Dubh reacted well to Dee’s sending-off with Declan Flaherty flicking Byrne’s long delivery to the net with three minutes to go to half-time. That respite was brief, however and points from O’Meara and Power sent Maynooth in at the break 3-11 to 0-5 to the good.
Coill Dubh’s second half response was largely confined to six Byrne points from frees with Éanna O’Neill grabbing their only score from play, and Maynooth showed little mercy. Cian Forde had an early point from play before brother Tadhg notched his second goal, three minutes from the interval. Carew batted out Cathal McCabe’s long-ranger leaving Forde with the simplest of close-range finishes.
On 41 minutes O’Grady got the goal his all-action display deserved, stepping inside his marker before burying low past Carew to stretch the advantage to 5-14 to 1-10.
Maynooth coasted from there to the end adding nine further points including one sequence where three Dunnes (Ciaran, Kevin and Ronan) registered five in a row between them while county panellist Power finished on an impressive 2-7.
Cillian Madden; Cian Brody, Matt Eustace, Kevin Carroll; Cian Forde 0-1, Dan O’Meara 0-2, Cormac Nolan; Ronan Dunne, Ciaran McCabe; Ciaran Dunne 0-3, Martin Quilty 0-1, Conor O’Grady 1-3; Tom Power 2-7 (0-3fs), Kevin Dunne 0-3, Tadhg Forde 2-0.
Luke Murnane for Quilty HT, Ronan Dunne 0-2 for Nolan HT, Kevin McNeill for Ciaran Dunne 42, Conall Knox for McCabe 46, Eoin Kelliher 0-1 for O’Grady 52, Joe Millett (temp) for T Forde 55-59.
Ross Carew; Niall Keane, Dylan Brereton, Finn Tierney; John Dee, Mark Grace, Fionn Moran; Sean Dunne, Mark Delaney 0-3 (3fs); Eanna O’Neill 0-1, Declan Flaherty 1-0, Sean McLoughlin; Colm Gordon, Johnny Byrne 0-8 (7fs), Steven Ryan.
Ryan Casey for Gordon 29, Evan Smullen for Tierney HT, Conor Carew for Ryan 42, Ben Shortt for McLoughlin 49, Zach Donnelly for Flaherty 55.
Brian Kearney.
