Daly penalty save

AN impressive Athlone maintained their positive start to this year"s senior football championship with an assured performance against Coralstown-Kinnegad in Hogan Park, Moate, on Sunday evening. The victory gives Athlone a great chance of reaching the knockout stages of this year"s championship as they now have two wins from two games, having defeated St Malachy"s in the opening round. It was the fluency and control of Brendan Clarke"s attack that made the difference for Athlone as they eventually pulled away from the opposition in the second half. This game was a lively affair and both sides deserve credit for producing such entertaining fare early in the campaign. In the end, though, the likes of Joe Fallon, John Connellan and Mickey Greene were of huge importance to Athlone and registered the scores which ultimately steered the Shannonsiders to their second victory in Division 1B. Coralstown/Kinnegad will look back on several missed chances in the first half and, indeed, it"s a fair summary to say Athlone were a bit lucky to lead by a point at the break. The first half saw an incident of real importance to the game"s outcome - a penalty save by Athlone"s Richie Daly from Alan Giles on 25 minutes. This proved a genuine turning point in the match. Daly has been a mainstay in the Athlone goal for several years and once again his experience proved a telling factor in pulling off that all-important stop. Following a Mickey Greene goal on 35 minutes, it was difficult to see a way back for the reds, but they rallied and reduced the five-point margin back to two points, but then a brace of points by Joe Fallon and John Connellan saw Athlone forge ahead once more. A highly determined and physically strong Athlone outfit were able see off the best efforts of Colm Coyle"s charges in the final ten minutes to run out deserving five-point winners, to clock up their second victory of this year"s championship. On a sunny evening, the opening exchanges proved highly competitive. Fergal Dardis got the scoring underway with a point after just 30 seconds, but within three minutes Athlone were ahead thanks to a Joe Fallon free and a John Egan point from play. John Stapleton"s point was then disallowed by referee Barry Kelly for an illegal handpass in the build-up. This led to the lead changing hands, with Coralstown/Kinnegad responding with two points from the boot of Alan Giles, the first a fine point from 35 metres, and the second from a left wing free. The eventual losers - who defeated neighbours The Downs in the opening round - then squandered some perfectly good scoring chances, with no less than four efforts falling short of the posts and into the grateful arms of Richie Daly. Michael Greene popped over a rebound after John Egan"s shot was blocked, and five minutes later Joe Fallon converted a 40-metre free, after John Connellan was fouled. Trailing by 0-3 to 0-4, the red and white brigade were given the perfect opportunity to regain the lead when referee Barry Kelly awarded a penalty against an Athlone defender for a pull on Wayne Fox"s jersey. However, Alan Giles, who missed his last spotkick against The Downs, was also unsuccessful on this occasion, as Daly dived to his left turn away the kick. Instead of falling behind, Athlone increased their lead when Tom Stuart-Trainor intercepted a pass and although his effort at goals went wide, a free was awarded for a late tackle, from which John Connellan pointed. Coralstown/Kinnegad continued to mount up their tally of wides, although Alan Giles did lob the ball between the uprights from 30 metres to leave his side trailing by a solitary point at the break Athlone introduced Martin Keena and Alan Gaughan for the second period and attempted to play more direct and this tactic began to pay dividends immediately. Within five minutes, Keena fed Connellan and he slipped a neat pass out to Greene, who at first lost control of the ball and then, as it ran away from him, he decided to pull on the ball, driving it powerfully into the roof of the net. While the Athlone faithful were still celebrating, Alan Gaughan found Stuart-Trainor who added a further point. The Meath border outfit responded in positive fashion and two frees were converted by Alan Giles, with Enda Leonard adding another point. However, Athlone showed they really mean business this year, as they knocked over four unanswered points in eight minutes to effectively seal victory. Joe Fallon kicked a wonderful point from 40 metres and Fallon then played his part in the build-up to the next score, a point by Connellan. Two minutes later, Stuart-Trainor and Paul Bannon combined to set up Connellan for another score, and then Joe Fallon completed this scoring sequence when he converted a 13-metre free. The hugely experienced Rory O"Connell added even more strength to Athlone"s line-up for the last twelve minutes. A Giles point from a free almost went unnoticed, such was the gap on the scoreboard with five minutes remaining. Alan Gaughan, who impressed following his introduction, contributed a fine point from the left side as Athlone edged nearer victory. In injury time, an otherwise out of sorts Mark Gorman and then Alan Giles added points for Kinnegad, but it was Athlone who had the final say, when Joe Fallon soloed his way through the Kinnegad rearguard to send over a fine point. That put the seal on a good evening"s work for Athlone. SCORERS - Athlone: J Fallon (0-5, 4f), M Greene (1-1), J Connellan (0-3, 1f), T Stuart-Trainor (0-1), A Gaughan (0-1), J Egan (0-1). Coralstown-Kinnegad: A Giles (0-7, 4f), F Dardis (0-1), E Leonard (0-1), M Gorman (0-1). ATHLONE: Richie Daly; Fergal Murray, Gary Quinn, Paul Mullins; Paddy Dunning, Damien Kelly, Alan Kelly; Paul Bannon, James Tobin; John Stapleton, John Connellan, John Egan; Joe Fallon, Tom Stuart-Trainor, Michael Greene. Subs: David O"Neill for Paul Mullins (17 mins), Martin Keena for John Stapleton (H-T), Alan Gaughan for James Tobin (H-T), Rory O"Connell for Tom Stuart-Trainor (48 mins), Shane Gilroy for Michael Greene (56). CORALSTOWN-KINNEGAD: Damien Molloy; Jason Lynch, Stephen Bracken, Ronan Doyle; Ronan Foley, Eamon Fleming, David Kilmartin; Fergal Dardis, Niall Kilmartin; Barry Mooney, Enda Leonard, Alan Giles; Joe Kenny, Mark Gorman, Wayne Fox. Subs: Derek Griffin for Barry Mooney (H-T), John Hickey for Enda Leonard (46 mins), Gordon McDonnell for Joe Kenny (55 ). REFEREE: Barry Kelly (Mullingar Shamrocks).