St Kierans defeat Galtee Gaels in Limerick Senior Football Championship opening round tie

ST KIERANS opened their Irish Wire Products Limerick Senior Football Championship with a 3-13 to 1-12 win over Galtee Gaels this Tuesday evening in Ballyagran.

Although they struggled to convert dominance of first half possession into scores to counter the opposition's crisp use of the ball off the break, a second goal just two minutes after the restart released them from the shackles of inhibition and, powered on by the strength and the options provided by Darragh Treacy and Liam Kennedy in the engine room, they sapped Galtee's resistance on one of the hottest evening so far of the year.

Both sides are out again over the coming weekend after this game had been delayed by two weeks but such is the tightness of this six-team group that the results leaves the winners eyeing one of the three places in the knockout stages while the losers are already focused on avoiding being one of the pair condemned to the relegation play-offs. For Galtee, in particular, Saturday's clash with Mungret St Pauls will be about reproducing their early fluency early on and carrying it on right through the hour.

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Kierans spent the first six minutes camped in the opposing half but, apart from an Alan Daly free and Kennedy rattling his shot off the post, they had nothing to show for their efforts before the first Galtee attack ended with Eoghan McNamara powering up the centre and offloading to Seán Casey to blast home just under the crossbar. Riding the momentum, Bob Childs then added a point before the Ardagh side recovered their grip in the middle and Treacy struck back with a pair of points before another attack at the other end saw Childs pulled down going for goal but he then saw his penalty saved by Donie Nolan and his follow-up cleared on the line.

However, the south Limerick side side had the consolation of Jack Ryan restoring their advantage to two where it remained as John Hayes's free was met by Childs but St Kierans continued to press the high line and, despite the pace being sucked from their attacks, pulled a point back through Daly and then bounced into the lead when Eoin McEnery raced onto Kevin Meade's lay-off to hammer beyond Danny McGrath's reach. However, once there, the line fell back, Galtee found more space to get the break moving and, as they dominated the run-up to the break, Zach McCarthy, Ryan and Childs's free sent them into the dressing-room 1-6 to 1-5 to the good.

Within seconds of the restart, Seán Clancy had doubled their advantage but, before they could enjoy it, an attack from the kickout bore down on their goals and Kennedy pivoted onto the final pass to blast to the net on the turn. Tommie Childs replied immediately to equalise but, after Kennedy was met by Bob Childs's free, the benefits of the St Kierans' bench began to bear down on the middle third as Eoin McEnery and Daly pointed before Childs replied from an impossible angle on the quarter mark.

However, Galtee Gael’s search for the equaliser was breaking down on the final pass and it was all back uphill again when McEnery fired over the game's only two-pointer and Kennedy then followed up by collecting and banging home his second and his side's third goal on the turn. By that point, the Kilbeheny tank was running on empty and Séamus Mangan and Daly's free stretched the Coolcappa club's advantage to eight before losing Kennedy to a second yellow. Settling back to defend it, they held out until Conor Moriarty and Ryan shaved two from the gap off but, just before Donnacha O'Callaghan blew his whistle for the last time, Treacy banged over the final score.

SCORERS: ST KIERANS: Liam Kennedy 2-1, Eoin McEnery 1-3 (0-2 2-pointer), Alan Daly 0-4 (2 frees), Darragh Treacy 0-3, John Hayes (free), Séamus Mangan 0-1 each; GALTEE GAELS: Bob Childs 0-5 (2 frees), Seán Casey 1-0, Jack Ryan 0-3, Zach McCarthy, Seán Clancy, Tommie Childs, Conor Moriarty 0-1 each.

ST KIERANS: Donie Nolan; Mossie Shine, Shane fitzgerald, Mike Shanahan; Mikey Long, Brendan McCarthy, Anthony Mullins; Darragh Treacy, Liam Kennedy; Cormac Mann, John Hayes, Lorcan Murphy; Alan Daly, Adam Lacey, Kevin Meade. SUBS: Eoin McEnery for Lorcan Murphy, inj (21mins), Seán Long for Anthony Mullins (half-time), Séamus Mangan for Cormac Mann (51mins), Seán Ryan for Mikey Long (55mins).

GALTEE GAELS: Danny McGrath; Eoin Gallahue, Maurice O'Sullivan, Alan Coughlan; Jack Ryan, Seán McGrath, Eoghan McNamara; Tommie Childs, Alan Condon; Seán Clancy, Conor McGrath, Cian Ryan; Seán Casey, Bob Childs, Zach McCarthy. SUBS: Paddy English for Conor McGrath (47mins), Conor Moriarty for Cian Ryan (50mins), Edward Quinn for Eoin Gallahue (52mins), Éamonn Kelly for Seán Casey (53mins).

REFEREE: Donnacha O'Callaghan (Castlemahon).