Athy win but pushed all the way by Clogherinkoe

Athy 0-13

Clogherinkoe 0-11

In the final game of the three game Joe Mallon Motors senior football championship programme at Manguard Park on Sunday afternoon, it was Athy who emerged victorious but all credit to Clogherinkoe, who despite, on more than one occasion, looking like they were slipping away, they stuck with it and in the end can feel somewhat aggrieved that they got nothing out of this one.

Athy were excellent in the opening half with Niall Kelly putting on an impressive display of point taking but they still only led by three points and with The Cloghs having the benefit of the strong breeze in the second half the game was far from sealed.

The second half was poor in the extreme, Athy hitting seven wides and two shorts in the early part of the proceedings and they could have paid dearly for their poor shooting as Clogherinkoe hung in and then created two goal chances that could have gained them a point, at least.

Niall Kelly and Mark Grehan exchanged easy points; Kelly added an absolute beauty which was replied to by Clogherinkoe's main scoring threat Cein McMonagle who made it 0-2 apiece on seven minutes.

Athy full forward showed great feet movement before splitting the posts while Clogherinkoe's Mark Grehan found Mark Nolan whose point effort was boxed out by an alert Athy defender.

Brian Maher put Athy three clear; Mark Nolan reduced that to two with a fine mark before a lovely move involving Niall Kelly, Ben Purcell and Kieran Farrell ended with the latter pointing.

John Moran extended the lead to four on 21 minutes but Clogherinkoe did not go away and points from Cein McMonagle and Jimmy Lynch reduced the lead back to two.

Niall Kelly and Cein McMonagle, after a lovely run, exchanged points but it was the impressive Niall Kelly who added two before the break to see his side leading by three as the players headed to the dressing room the score board showing Athy 0-10 Clogherinkoe 0-7.

A decent opening half but for some reason the opening 20 minutes of or so of the second was dire stuff.
Athy dominated most of that period and at the mid-way point the sides had scored a mere point each but Athy hit six wides and a couple of shorts in that time.

Fifty-six minutes and there remained three in it as Clogherinkoe suddenly realising they were in this one with a chance.
A long ball in came off the upright; Cein McMonagle gathered but his shot was blocked by James Roycroft; Aeden Boyle gathered the leather let fly but again Roycroft got a block in preventing it from going over the line.

Athy finally got their second point of the half, through substitute James Eaton free but Clogherinkoe were not done yet and points from Aedan Boyle and two from Mark Nolan left just two in it and that was the way it remained as referee Brendan Cawley brought proceedings to an end, much to the relief of Athy and indeed the disappointment of The Cloghs.
Some interesting football left in this group which also include Celbridge and Allenwood.

Final score: Athy 0-13 Clogherinkoe 0-11.

Scorers: Athy, Niall Kelly 0-7 (2 frees), Ben Purcell 0-1, John Moran 0-1, Kieran Farrell 0-1, Kevin Feely 0-1 (free), Brian Maher 0-1, James Eaton 0-1 (free).

Clogherinkoe, Cein McMonagle 0-4 (2 frees), Jimmy Lynch 0-2, Mark Nolan 0-3 (mark, free), Mark Grehan 0-1, Aeden Boyle 0-1.

ATHY: James Roycroft; Padraig Spillane, Cathal McCarron, Darren Lawler; Michael Spillane, James McGrath, Brian Maher; Ryan Bowden, Kevin Feely; Barry Kelly, Kieran Farrell, Pascal Connell; Niall Kelly, Ben Purcell, John Moran. Subs: Cathal Kennedy for John Moran (35 minutes); Liam McGovern for Kieran Farrell (35 minutes); James Eaton for Ben Purcell (48 minutes); Colm Moran for Ryan Bowden (48 minutes); Sean Moore for Pascal Connell (52 minutes).

CLOGHERINKOE: Keith Wilkinson; Ben Kenny, Eoghan McMonagle, John Mulraney; Andrew Hill, Gavin Scanlon, Rory Phelan; Mark Grehan, Killian Galligan; Daniel Grehan, Mark Nolan, Aeden Boyle; Jimmy Lynch, Cein McMonagle, Ciaran Flynn. Subs: Conor Swan for Ciaran Flynn (48 minutes); Niall Walsh for Rory Phelan (60 minutes); Conor Swan for Jimmy Lynch (60 minutes).

REFEREE: Brendan Cawley.