Leech and Greville goals help Killucan sink Caulry

ACFL Div 1: Killucan 2-14, Caulry 1-11

By Eamon A. Donoghue

Killucan’s efficiency in the second half was enough to give them victory over Caulry as they claimed their first points in this year's ACFL Division 1 campaign in Mount Temple last Saturday.

The two teams were pointless at the bottom of the table going into the game, both needing a win and a boost in confidence.

Now under former Roscommon player and U20 manager Nigel Dineen, Caulry were short a number of county players but they could have done with a win to get some confidence going. Former Westmeath defender Frank Boyle is managing Killucan and although this was just their second game of the campaign (their first round fixture against Athlone was postponed), they also needed a win. The weather was bright and sunny for the early start of 11.30am, with the teams serving up an entertaining game after a slow start to proceedings.

Killucan’s Seán Leech had an opportunity to open the scoring, but his soccer-like attempt off the ground for goal was feeble and it didn’t bother Liam Malynn in the Caulry goal. After a period of both teams sizing each other up rather than going for scores, up popped Killucan corner-back Andrew Flood to kick a two-pointer. In such a slow burner, it was fitting that a defender opened the scoring.

Caulry finally opened their account when Shane Lawless popped over a free, after cornerback Olan Healy was fouled. Then Oisin Shortall kicked a score, after good build up play by Adam Donoghue and Stephen Connolly. With 18 minutes gone, there were just three scores kicked between the teams, the sides level 0-2 each.

Caulry in particular wouldn’t have been happy with their first 20 minutes on a beautiful morning. They had just 0-2 on the board, one score from play and just one wide, plus one attempt that dropped into the keeper's hands.

Stephen Connolly kicked a good score on the run, after ghosting past a couple of opponents, to level up the game, 0-3 each, in the 22nd minute. Then the keeper got involved and showed the way to find the target.

Malynn kicked two frees, one a two-pointer, making it 0-6 to 0-3 in the 25th minute. Then up stepped former Westmeath full-back Kevin Maguire to kick a two-pointer and the South Westmeath team had pushed out their ascendancy, 0-8 to 0-4.

Killucan were under the cosh at that stage but full-forward Leech was continuously looking for possession and he got on the end of a move involving Ciaran Doyle and Devin Hill, to beat Malynn in goal.

Then midfielder Michael Doherty kicked his second score and Killucan had cut the margin to the minimum at half-time, with Caulry leading 0-9 to 1-5.

After the resumption, Killucan took over and they were very efficient in front of goal. They scored in almost every attack, laying the platform for this win by the 45th minute. Midfielder Gary Greville scored their second goal and the final pass to him was by his midfield compatriot Doherty. The Killucan players were running at the Caulry rearguard from every angle. Sami Clarke also had an excellent second half, he kicked 0-4 in the second period, including a two-pointer.

With Killucan leading 2-10 to 0-10 in the 47th minute, Caulry were struggling and it seemed they hadn’t recovered from conceding that 1-1 salvo from the visitors late in the first half. Their only response in the third quarter was a Tiarnán O’Donovan free after a Killucan breach of the 'three up' rule. Killucan were leading 2-12 to 0-11 in the 53rd minute and they were in a strong position to pick up their first points.

Caulry scored a late goal from substitute Neil Clinton to revive their hopes, and they also had another opportunity to cut the arrears after another Killucan breach. But instead of trying to kick a two-pointer from the free, they went short and their efforts were to no avail.

Lawless, O’Donovan and Connolly had goal attempts blocked as time ran out on Caulry and Killucan held on to claim the win. Maybe if the hosts had stayed calm and kicked a two-pointer, they could have manufactured another orange flag to get something from the game.

The Mount Temple/Baylin men are still pointless at the bottom of the table and will need to get their shooting boots on. Killucan will be happy with the win and especially with their second half performance.

Scorers - Killucan: S Leech 1-1; S Clarke 0-4 (1tp); G Greville 1-0; M Doherty, A Flood (tp) and D Hill (1f) 0-2 each; C Doyle, E Ahearn and J Hill 0-1 each. Caulry: N Clinton 1-0; L Malynn 0-3 (1tpf); S Connolly (1f), K Maguire (tp) and T O’Donovan (1f) 0-2 each; O Shortall and S Lawless (f) 0-1 each.

Killucan - David Bryan; Andrew Flood, Matthew Shaw, Luke Darby; Seán Quinn, Darren Finn, Cormac Boyle; Gary Greville, Michael Doherty; Sami Clarke, Ciaran Doyle, Michael Taggart; Devin Hill, Seán Leech, Eoghan Ahearn.

Subs used: Gavin Flood, Stephen Bartley, David Weir, Jayden Hill, Shane Gorman.

Caulry - Liam Malynn; Seán Clinton, Seán Murphy, Olan Healy; Kevin Maguire, Tom Cloonan, Dean Martin; Stephen Connolly, Harry Stuart Trainor; Oisin Shortall, Adam Donoghue, Shane Lawless; Tiarnán O’Donovan, Seán Doyle, Aaron Murphy.

Subs used: Roan Sweeney, Neil Clinton, Glenn Carolan.

Referee - Vinny Cox (Rosemount).