| No one could deny that favorites Glanmire
deserved their victory over a gallant. Aghada outfit, but crucial
goal chances both taken and spurned had a big bearing on the final
outcome. Aghada gifted Glanmire a goal after 23 minutes of the first
half, when a bad kickout caught a couple of Aghada defenders napping,
and the net result was a converted penalty for the Glanmire men.
Then in the second period, Aghada twice went within a whisker of
scoring a goal themselves, which they so badly needed. Glanmire
started this game in whirlwind fashion, and were 3 points to the
good inside 10 minutes. Slowly the Aghada defense started to get
to grips with the
fast moving Glanmire forwards, and after a couple of misses, center
forward Stephen O'Keeffe opened the Aghada account from a free after
Tony Wall was fouled. Stephen Gilroy at full back as well as Alan
Morrissey and Billy Hennessy were on top of their games now, and
Aghada established a strong foothold in the game. Corner forward
Shane Scanlon was brought down while in full flight and again Stephen
converted. On 16 minutes the sides was all square when midfielder,
Paudie Wall, won a great ball and set up Stephen for a point from
play. Then against the run of play Glanmire earned their penalty,
which was blasted to the back of the net. 3 more points from the
Riverstown men gave them a comfortable 6-point
lead at half time. Glanmire again started the second period better,
kicking 2 points and bringing a fine save out of Evan Kennedy in
the Aghada goal.. Aghada responded when Paudie burst through the
Glanmire defense , only to see his shot saved by the 'keeper. A
similar run by Paudie soon after, yielded Aghada's and Stephen's
4th point, again from a free. A minute later , hardworking wing
forward, Tony Wall scored the point of the game after a super solo
run. On 20 minutes a Stephen O'Keeffe shot was deflected goalwards
by a defender, but stopped inches short of crossing the line. In
the resulting scramble 2 Aghada players ran in, but failed to get
the ball into the back of the net. Just prior to this Aghada had
been dealt a body blow when influential Brian Morrissey was forced
off injured, to join long term injury casualty, Conor Hickey on
the sidelines. Glanmire responded to this let off with 2 points,
one of which was very well tipped over by Evan in goals. Stevie
had 2 more frees and Billy Hennessy set up Tony Wall for his second,
while Martin Day kicked one from a long distance as the game went
into injury time. It was never going to be enough however as Glanmire
ran out deserved winners by 6 points.
Team and scorers -
E.Kennedy,
L.Morrissey,S.Gilroy,S.Cashman,
D.Cashman,A.morrissey,B.Hennessy,
D.Morrissey,P.Wall,
T.Wall(0-2),S.O'Keeffe (0-6),A.Aharne,
M.Day(0-1),B.Morrissey,S.Scanlon.
Subs Used - D.Kearney,L.Day. |