Two Mile House and Ellistown come out on top in Kildare IFC opener

Full match reports from Two Mile House vs Kilcullen and Ellistown vs Milltown

The Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Football Championship preliminary round

Two Mile House 1-16

Kilcullen 1-10

The third game of a five game programme in the Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate football championship saw the clash of near neighbours Two Mile House and Kilcullen.

Like the previous two games earlier in the day it was played in sweltering heat as a lot of supporters dashed for the cover of the stand.

Despite a blistering start from.last years Junior champions Kilcullen it was Two Mile House who saw out a comfortable six point victory.

Two Mile House opened the scoring after 20 seocnds through Kildare U20 Adam Conneely but Kilcullen came straight up the field and when Sean Knight found Ciaran O'Brien, he off-loaded to Thomas Hickey who shot low to the House net.
Jamie Buckley from play and a Ciaran O'Brien free after O'Brien himself was fouled on the edge of the D saw the Rags in an early four point lead after six minutes.

Conor Keogh got on the end of Aidan Casey's pass on 8 to register the second Two Mile House score.It was the start of a golden spell for the House as they shot 1-10 to Kilcullen's two points from frees for Dan Coughlan before the interval.

Two Mile House were stronger physically and their running game caused the Kilcullen defence to concede five frees to the ever reliable Aidan Casey.

After Casey's third pointed free Cormac Barker's attempt at a quick out was intercepted and Adam Conneely was on hand to pick up the loose ball and hit the Kilcullen net.

Two points from Conneely and one each from Declan Kirwan and Donnacha Higgins left it 1-12 to 1-4 in favour of Two Mile House at the break.

On the change of ends an Aidan Casey free and a a second point from Declan Kirwan opened up a 10 point gap.
Kilcullen did show some great character after the break,it was the character that saw them win a Kildare junior championship last year and a run that brought them to the Leinster Final.

Jamie Buckley from play and a Dan Coughlan free from 40 metres, after Sean Knight was fouled, reduced the gap to eight.
Jamie Buckley from a free, after Ciaran O'Brien was fouled brought it back to seven as we entered the final quarter.
Dan Coughlan and Jamie McGuinness swapped points.

This was to be Two Mile House's only point in the closing 25 minutes but they had done enough to earn their place in Group A of the winners group.

Sean Knight and a David Marshall free brought the Kilcullen total up to 1-10 as we entered the closing two minutes.
Second half sub Conor Bolton did create a goal chance for the Rags late on but his effort was smothered by Luke Coy and with it came the full time whistle.

Two Mile House had prevailed on a scoreline of 1-16 to Kilcullen's 1-10.

Two Mile House will be delighted to have got the win but after hitting 11 wides and been turned over on numerous occasions they will know improvement is required.

For Kilcullen this young team certainly missed the leadership of Daz Barker but if their league performances are anything to go by they will be safe despite going into a tough losers group.

TWO MILE HOUSE: Luke Coy; Nathan Sherry, Matt Kelly, Will Purcell; James McGuinness 0-1, William Burke, Caomhan Doolan; Declan Kirwan 0-2, Mark Sherry; Donnacha Higgins 0-1, Chris Healy, Conor Keogh 0-1; Aidan Casey 0-8 (6 frees), Adam Conneely 1-3, Jack Collins.

Subs: Liam Coleman for Declan Kirwan (46 minutes); Shane D'Arcy for Matt Kelly (47 minutes); Liam Cummins for Caomhan Doolan (54 minutes); Brian Byrne for James McGuinness (56 minutes); Gavin Burke for Aidan Casey (56 minutes).

KILCULLEN: Cormac Barker; John Lavin, Fran Shortt, Jack Dooley; Tim Carey, Graham Lavin, Cathal Brophy; Ciaran Melinn, Robbie Lee; Paul Bell, Sean Knight 0-1, Thomas Hickey 1-0; Ciaran O Brien 0-1 (1 free), Jamie Buckley 0-3 (1 free), Dan Coughlan 0-4 (4 frees).

Subs: Warren Kealy for Paul Bell (half-time); Cian Creaton for Tim Carey (half-time); David Marshall 0-1 (1 free) for Robbie Lee (35 minutes); Conor Bolton for Thomas Hickey (43 minutes).

REFEREE: Cathal Daly.

The Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Football Championship preliminary round

Ellistown 2-9

Milltown 1-10

A gallant second half performance from Ellistown ensured that they would claim victory over Milltown in The Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Football Championship despite Milltown coming through the opening half the strongest with a four point half time lead.

A Tadgh Watson free opened the scoring as Ellistown took to the lead inside the opening minute of action. Milltown looked to level matters soon after this with Ian Fitzgerald lofting over from the left of goal.

Determined to keep ahead of the Milltown outfit Shane Maughan gathered possession and breaking forward found Conor Lindy on the edge of the square. Under pressure from Jamie Cross he off-loaded to the on rushing Watson who made no mistake with the finish.

Having been on the back foot throughout the opening five minutes of action Milltown looked to rectify this and a Robert Scully point helped to chip away at the three point Ellistown advantage.

A further point from Aaron Walker had the difference cut to the minimum before Kevin Byrne found himself standing over a line ball, finding Ronan O’Shea, he quickly sent Morgan Owens into the space and keeping his shot low he beat Oran Donnelly.

With that Milltown were into the lead as three pointed frees from Fitzgerald had five between the sides with five remaining in the half.

A Darragh Watson pointed deep into injury time to narrow the Ellistown deficit with his sides first score in eighteen minutes.
With work to do Ellistown quickly set about this on the restart and two early points from Darragh Watson soon had only two between the sides.

Looking to turn the tie once more a long ball into the heart of the Milltown defense found Lindy who rose highest. Refusing the mark, Lindy gathered before turning to unleash a cracking shot.

Beating David Hanlon Ellistown were one clear once more. An Aaron Walker point soon had the sides level once more with twenty minutes remaining in the tie.

Looking to again swing things in favour of Milltown Robbie Gibbons added a further point moments later before Ellistown again looked to seize control. With points from Andy O’Neill and Watson they took the lead for the fourth time in the tie.

A second from O’Neill made this advantage two before Sean Lindy fisted over after receiving the ball from Maughan after the center forward claimed a well-earned mark on the edge of the large rectangle.

Two late Fitzgerald points, one from play and one from a place ball looked to give Milltown one final chance but unable to build on Fitzgerald’s efforts O’Neill sealed the victory for Ellistown late on with his final point of the evening.

ELLISTOWN: Oran Donnelly; Sean Lindy 0-1, Cillian Barry, Max Lennox; Darragh Watson 0-3 (1f, 1 45’), Kevin Martin, Pat Martin; James Sutton, Tom Waters; Shane Maughan, Andy O’Neill 0-3 (2f), Andrui MacLochlainn; Tadgh Watson 1-2 (2f), Conor O’Loughlin, Conor Lindy 1-0.

Subs: Gary Kinahan for Lindy, 54.

MILLTOWN: David Hanlon; Sean Murphy, Jamie Cross, Eoin Dowling; Shane Daly, Colin O’Shea, Cian Buckley; Kevin Byrne, Aaron Walker 0-2; Morgan Owens 1-0, Alan Dignam, Aaron Jacob; Robert Scully 0-1, Ronan O’Shea, Ian Fitzgerald 0-6 (4f).

Subs: Robbie Gibbons 0-1 for Dignam, 30; Niall Gardiner for Dowling, 59; Thomas Hamilton for Scully, 59.

REFEREE: Matthew Redmond.