Kilmore Rec faced a buoyant St Oliver Plunkett on their new 3G pitch in Crossgar
The NAFL League Division 1A,
League Match,
Venue: Robert Adams Park, CVrossgar, 31st August 2024,
Final Score: Kilmore Rec 1 3 St Oliver Plunkett.
Kilmore Rec this season has a number of new players and the team with its selection of younger players faced determined visitors St Oliver Plunkett writes Jim Masson.
From the whistle this looked to be an evenly matched game with Kilmore enjoying plenty of forays into the Saints’ half. But the visitors were quick on the break and tested the resilience of the home side.
Kilmore did enjoy a number of well coordinated attacks and it took the Saints 10 minutes to settle and take their first shot at the Kilmore nets.
In an early attack, Caolan Conlan and Rhys Clarke broke forward and Yaroslav Panfilov just went wide on his volloy.
Bailey Carrol scored first blood for the Saints after both sides pressurising the goal areas.
The match became physically tougher as the visitors dug in deep and resisted any chance of an equaliser by Kilmore despite numerous charges and volleys at their goal.
Kilmore had backed the Saints in their own half for spells it was hard for the visitors to build an attack. But equally the Saints’ back line was making life tough for the Kilmore attackers despite their efforts to get an opener goal to lift the home fans.
On one occasion, Plunkett keeper McMahon was almost too casual in a clearance when Clarke charged in and almost got possession and probably an easy goal as a result.
Then on 15 minutes, the Saints surged forward and Bailey Carrol beat Gary Kennedy slotting in for the opening goal.
Up until then, the combination of Rhys, Clarke and Mulhern was looking promising for Kilmore with opportunities arising and steady corners and Kilmore upped the pace. They continued with increased vigour to find an equaliser.
Then seconds before the break, Saints’ forward Ronan Hamill scored as Kilmore pressed hard into the Plunkett half and left their defence bare. It was now an uphill task for Kilmore Rec going 2 goals down.
The Saints were always trying to fight back into the game despite the Kilmore forays.
But as the second half started Kilmore did put up a gutsy show and pressed forward at every opportunity taking the game to the visitors.
Kilmore sub Tomas Murphy eventually brought some cheer to the Kilmore side putting an equaliser again within reach, – he hit a 40-yard low volley beating Deaghlan McMahon in the 65th minute.
Carrol was having a good game and broke free running clear into the Kilmore half and volleyed and it took a great reflex save from Gary Kennedy to keep the ball out of the Kilmore net.
But the Saints had other ideas now they were on the front foot and the match did get quite physical as they defended their narrow one goal lead, but Kilmore did appear quite gritty too in their efforts to claw back a goal – at least.
Then as Kilmore made a final rush before half time to equalise, they were caught out as Plunkett surged forward and Ronan Hamill scored making the recovery for Kilmore all the more difficult.
It was in the dying embers of the game that Plunkett forward Conall Breen ran through the open Kilmore half to face Gary Kennedy and he slotted in to put the visitors in a safe place with seconds before the final whistle.
At this point Kilmore captain Jack Larkin received a second yellow card and a subsequent red as the match was ending.
Kilmore were certainly getting closer to an equaliser which they were working hard for, and deserved, but they were denied. The final score of 1-3 did not reflect the decent football that Kilmore had exhibited throughout the match and sadly there had to be a loser in this case. A draw would have been a fair result never-the-less.
Kilmore did struggle against the back line of the Saints led by their captain Michael Healy but had opportunities to turn the match in their favour.
The new Kilmore 3G pitch is a tremendous asset to the club which will eventually settle down and enjoy a new era of soccer at Robert Adams Park with improved facilities.
Kilmore Rec: 1 Gary Kennedy (GK) 2 Christopher Magee 3 Jonathan Murray 4 Jack Larkin (C) 5 Caolan O’Shea 6 Yaroslav Panfilov 7 Joseph Burns 8 Caolan Conlon 9 Rhys Clarke 10 Michael Carvill 11 Fionn Mulhern. Subs: 12 Tomas Murphy 14 Cal Gemmell 15 Matthew Robinson.
Sir Oliver Plunkett: 1 Deaghlan McMahon (GK) 2 Gary Reynolds 3 Sean McCullough 5 Michael Healy (C) 6 Gary Booth 7 Niall Carmichael 8 Ciaran Reid 9 Conall Breen 10 Ronan Hamil 11 Bailey Carrol 18 Nathan Guin. Subs 4 Martin Webb 12 Odhran O’Connor 14 Johnny McCann.
