Kilmallock 2-19 Portaferry 0-12
Kilmallock eased their way through to a AIB GAA All-Ireland Hurling Club Championships final against Ballyhale Shamrocks this afternoon thanks to a 2-19 to 0-12 win over Down side Portaferry in Mullingar.
Paddy O’Loughlin’s early goal got the eventual victors off to the best possible start at the Westmeath venue but some accurate free-taking from Paul Braniff kept Portaferry in touch, though they trailed by 1-08 to 0-06 at the interval.
However, the second half was dominated by Kilmallock as they struck seven of the next eight scores after the restart and by the time Eoin Ryan found Graeme Mulcahy for the game’s second goal, the result was assured.
Ger O’Loughlin’s side travelled to Mullingar hoping to break a six-year run of defeats for Munster clubs at this stage of the competition, but if there was any nervousness or fear in their side, it certainly didn’t manifest itself in the early stages.
Bryan O’Sullivan struck a gorgeous point from out on the right wing to get them out to a bright start, and by the third minute they had increased that lead to four thanks to O’Loughlin’s goal.
As was the case throughout the game, power and pace was key to Kilmallock’s success with Kieran Kennelly collecting possession and driving at the Portaferry goal. He slipped a handpass across to O’Loughlin and the big centre forward was well able to take a shoulder, hold his balance and strike the sliothar to the net on the turn.
A Paul Braniff free finally got Portaferry off the mark but the Limerick men didn’t break stride and by the ten-minute mark five different players had scored from play as they racked up a six-point lead.
Portaferry dug their heels in and prevented the gap from growing any wider before half-time, but they needed a few generous decisions from John Keenan to provide them with most of their opportunities, while at the other end a couple of sloppy defensive errors ensured that Kilmallock never went too long without raising a flag.
Portaferry will look also back with regret on two half chances for goals that might have been better struck over the bar, as well as four first-half wides, including two very scorable frees that the Braniff struck uncharacteristically off target.
A couple of Keenan’s calls, including a harsh overcarrying free that gave Braniff the chance to make it 1-08 to 0-6 at half time, raised the ire of the Kilmallock supporters and a chorus of boos echoed around the Mullingar arena as the players and officials went in for half time.
If the Kilmallock players felt the same way, they didn’t show it publicly and instead channelled their passion in the best possible way, scything through Portaferry at will after the restart. An exchange of points was followed six white flags in a row for the Limerick club, while ominously for Portaferry, two of those points were stunning scores from Graeme Mulcahy, the Limerick county man who’d been kept scoreless in the first half.
The old adage that it’s hard to keep a good man down rang true in this instance as Mulcahy duly delivered the second goal of the game for Kilmallock, blasting the ball past Karol Keating after Eoin Ryan played him in behind the full-back line of the Ulster champions with ten minutes remaining.
Portaferry’s biggest difficulty was illustrated by the fact that until Conor Mageean and Eoghan Sands picked off points in the closing minutes, all bar one of their scores came from the stick of Paul Braniff.
However, ultimately they were just second best by a considerable margin to a Kilmallock team that will travel to Croke Park next month as huge underdogs, but with plenty of momentum on their side.
Kilmallock: B Hennessy, L Hurley, M O’Loughlin, A Costello; L Walsh, Philip O’Loughlin, K O’Donnell (0-02, 0-01 free); P O’Brien (0-01), B O’Sullivan (0-04); J Mulcahy (0-01), Paddy O’Loughlin (1-00), R Egan (0-01); E Ryan (0-07, 0-04 frees), K Kennelly, G Mulcahy (1-02).
Subs: R Hanley for Kennelly (45), C Barry (0-01) for J Mulcahy (54), A O’Shaughnessy for Paddy O’Loughlin (56), J Meade for M O’Loughlin (57), D Joy for Walsh (59)
Portaferry: K Keating; C Taggart, C O’Neill, C O’Prey; C Coulter, J Convery, M Conlan; A Savage, C Mageean (0-01); A O’Prey, P Braniff (0-09, 0-06 frees, 0-01 ’65), K McGarry (0-01); S Mageean, E Sands (0-01), R Magee.
Subs: S Murray for Magee (37), N White for Taggart (50), B Trainor for McGarry (54), B Coleman for S Mageean (57)
Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow).
