Kilruane rediscover their spark to beat Drom

GAA: FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling Championship Group 1 Round 1

Kilruane MacDonaghs 4-20

Drom & Inch 1-25

Four goals at key moments in either half paved the way for Kilruane MacDonaghs to claim victory over Drom & Inch in round 1 of the County Senior Hurling Championship in Templederry on Saturday evening.

Three first-half goals from Jerome Cahill, Thomas Cleary, and Cian Darcy would prove to be huge scores come the final whistle, and when Kian O’Kelly bagged a fourth for the North side in the first minute of the second half, Drom & Inch were always playing catch up.

The manner of the goals conceded will be frustrating from a Drom & Inch perspective as three of them were similar as Kilruane’s direct balls were fluffed at in the air, or on the ground by the Drom defence.

That was the gameplan from Kilruane and in fairness, they made hay when the sun was shining early on as the Drom defence could not deal with the lengthy deliveries all through; Kian O’Kelly, in particular, giving a tour de force in the aerial duels and he was a constant menace up front all game long.

Drom & Inch were well fancied coming into the game but could not keep the Kilruane forwards at bay long enough, and even when they had three or four points on a few occasions in the second half, they just could not prevent a Kilruane response every time which ultimately cost them the game.

The lead up to the game from a Kilruane viewpoint would have been the desperate performance in defeat to Templederry in the North Championship, but they were well up for this and the inclusion of Willie Cleary and Aaron Morgan after injury gave them a much-needed boost.

They started like a train early on. After Willie Cleary and Seamus Callanan traded frees inside three minutes, the Magpies had the ball in the net after Jerome Cahill scythed down the middle of the Drom defence to score the opening major.

Drom were attacking fluidly themselves and talisman Seamus Callanan had the green flag wavering just four minutes later, leaving a Kilruane defender for dead near goal before expertly slotting his effort over Paidi Williams.

It was level at 1-3 apiece after seventeen minutes but Thomas Cleary found the net for Kilruane’ second goal a minute later after a Cian Darcy break in the air fell his way.

Despite a good response from Drom with the next two points, the third goal soon followed as confusion from another long delivery saw the ball break for the aforementioned Darcy who pulled on the loose ball to the back of the net from close range.

Drom responded well for a third time through Cormac Fitzpatrick and Tommy Nolan, but the sides traded mini-scoring bursts for the remainder of the half as Kilruane led at the break 3-9 to 1-12.

As if to emphasise the porous nature of the Drom defence, Kian O’Kelly rattled the back of the net once again straight after the restart to extend the Kilruane lead as Drom were continually leaving room for the Kilruane attack to operate in.

Some excellent scores were taken in the second half by both sides and even though Drom scored four points late on, they just couldn’t stifle the Kilruane attack well enough to reel in the deficit, with Kian O’Kelly in sensational form catching clean possession and drawing multiple frees for the deadly accurate Willie Cleary to convert.

Drom tried to put the cat amongst the pigeons late on with a few goal attempts including a Seamus Callanan 21-yard free that was saved on the line by Craig Morgan, but it wasn’t to be.

Player of the Match: Kian O’Kelly (Kilruane MacDonaghs)

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Paidi Williams (6); James Cleary (7), Kieran Cahill (6), Eoin Hogan (7); Paddy Ryan (6), Craig Morgan (7), Aaron Morgan (0-1, 7); Conor Austin (6), Jerome Cahill (1-0, 7); Willie Cleary (0-13, 0-11, 7), Kian O’Kelly (1-1, 9), Niall O’Meara (0-1, 8); Conor Cleary (6), Thomas Cleary (1-2, 7), Cian Darcy (1-1, 7).

Sub: Sean MacAdams (0-1, 7) for C Cleary (15 inj).

Drom & Inch: Eoin Collins (7); Lorcan Campion (0-1, 7), Michael Campion (6), Jack Ryan (8); Podge Campion (0-2, 7), Fintan Purcell (6), Kevin Hassett (7); John Campion (0-1, 7), Stevie Nolan (7); Tony Cahill (0-1, 6), David Collins (0-1, 6), Seamus Callanan (1-9, 0-8f, 7); Cormac Fitzpatrick (0-5, 0-2f, 7), David Butler (0-1, 6), Tommy Nolan (0-3, 7).

Subs: Jamie Moloney (7) for M Campion (HT); Maidhc Fitzpatrick (0-1, 7) for Cahill (44); Johnny Ryan (6) for Butler (53).

Referee: Tom McGlinchey (Newport).