Kilkerrin-Clonberne U21s edge the verdict in county B decider

Date Published: 16-May-2012

Kilkerrin-Clonberne 0-7Moycullen 0-6

Declan Tierney at Tuam Stadium

A strong finish from Kilkerrin-Clonberne earned them the county under 21 B football championship title at Tuam Stadium on Sunday in a game characterised by a strong breeze and a flurry of missed chances on both sides.

At one stage this match had all the hallmarks of a draw – Moycullen probably deserved it – as there was very little separating the sides in the second half but, in tremendously difficult playing conditions, it was Kilkerrin-Clonberne who securedvictory through late points from Cathal Moran and corner forward Conor Rabbitte.

Moycullen played with the advantage of the wind in the first half but found that they could only establish a 0-4 to 0-2 lead at the break, and it was expected that their opponents would easily close out the match in the second half.

In fact, Kilkerrin-Clonberne had at least six good scoring chances in the opening half, including two goal opportunities, but their finishing was truly awful.

But to Moycullen’s credit, they took the game to Kilkerrin-Clonberne in the early stages of the second half and actually increased their lead through their most dangerous forward Philip Dwyer. Several subsequent attacks proved fruitless, however.

They could only manage one more score as Kilkerrin-Clonberne eventually put the wind advantage to good use and while Shane Walsh scored three points in a row to equalise, he missed three further opportunities to put this game beyond sight.

In the first half it was Moycullen who had the wind advantage but seemed incapable of using it to their advantage as their goalkeeper Lucas Nolan had to pull off a spectacular save from Shane Walsh, who then proceeded to miss two very scoreable frees.

But when centre back Eoin Walsh fired over a spectacular point from the middle of the field, Moycullen were expected to adopt the direct route as opposed to pointless short passing movements that invariably led to nothing.

It was another 10 minutes before David Wynne secured their second point after 22 minutes from a free as Kilkerrin-Clonberne were denied another goal when Shane Dunleavy failed to convert after a fine movement involving Conor Rabbitte and Conor Moran.

Seamus Wynne and Philip Dwyer added two more scores for Moycullen with Kilkerrin-Clonberne yet to score despite having half a dozen chances at their disposal. It was in injury time when they finally struck with Shane Walsh converting from a free before Conor Rabbitte added one from play as they went in at half time just two points adrift.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.