Stars make it three from three

SFC Round 3

Kingscourt Stars 2-11

Lacken Celtic 1-9

Kingscourt Stars have made it three wins from their opening three games of this year’s championship while still, to some extent, flying under the radar. Owen Lennon’s side were made to work for everything by a resilient Lacken side and were denied by the woodwork on no less than five occasions. Kingscourt can now focus on a quarter final and maybe use their last game to give the veteran members of the team a well-earned rest.

Lacken’s injury and absentee list is starting to have an effect as they struggle for scores, despite playing well. At the break, Mickey O’Connor’s side held a one-point lead but were very reliant on frees as Mark Wilson’s 1-1 inside the first six minutes were their only scores from play in the half. Indeed, in the second they had the same problem as sub Donal Finnegan’s injury-time point was their only other score from play in the 65 minutes of playing time.

Lacken opened the scoring in the first minute with a free from Mark Wilson after Karl Clerkin was fouled in the right corner forward position. Kicking into the lake end of Dolan Park, Kingscourt replied with a Barry Reilly free after a foul on Joe Dillon in the third minute.

A slick sidestep by Jordan Morris created the game’s first goal chance but the woodwork denied the Tailteann Cup winner. Mark Wilson gathered a ball with his back to the Kingscourt goal after the Lacken kick-out that followed and instinctively turned and hooked the ball over the bar with his left foot to give his back the lead.

Padraig Faulkner, learning from Wilson’s earlier point, clambered to get a block on Wilson’s next shot two minutes later. The partial contact Faulkner made with the ball caused a wicked spin which saw Wilson’s shot lob over the head of Darragh McKenna and under the crossbar to the back of the net, giving Lacken a four-point lead.

A little over a minute later Kingscourt centre-back Paddy Meade played a beautiful ball in behind the Lacken defence to Joe Dillon. Picking up the pass to the left hand side of the goal, Dillon dropped the ball to his left foot and blasted it across the keeper to the corner of the net, leaving the minimum between the sides.

Wilson continued to cause Kingscourt trouble as he won a free along the sideline close to the stand. James Galligan had plenty of distance with his free kick and the accuracy to match. A second free from Galligan pushed Lacken back into a three-point lead with 12 minutes on the clock in a very entertaining opening quarter.

Kingscourt broke through for a goal again but Odhran Cunningham’s shot hit the post before the rebound was caught by Sean Burke and blasted off the crossbar. A foul on Craig Lanauze was brought forward by referee Noel Mooney to a scorable position for remonstrating and Mark Wilson easily slotted over the free to restore Lacken’s three point lead.

With five minutes remaining in the half Jordan Morris reduced the arrears with an excellent point that dropped onto the roof of the net. The last point of the first half saw Barry Reilly lay off to Padraig Faulkner for the former All-Star to point from 35 meters and leave just one between the sides.

The second half started with a foul on Shane Moynagh giving Mark Wilson a free from 30 metres which he was never going to miss. Lacken struggled for the next 25 minutes to create chances and those they did carve out passed them by while Kingscourt took control of the tie.

Morris added a second point to his tally before a Reilly pass into Dillon was flicked into the path of Paddy Meade but Daryl Buckley rushed out to deflect the shot out for a 45 which the Stars missed. A foul on Dillon in the 9th minute started a run of three Barry Reilly points in a row with the former Cavan forward accurate as always.

With ten minutes remaining in the game Barry Tully broke forward to the right corner of the field and without thought he curled his shot over the bar to give the stars a three point lead. Owen Lennon introduced Tom Tully off the bench and he won a free for Reilly to send over his sixth of the game.

With the second-half clock showing 26 minutes, Mark Wilson ended Lacken’s dry spell for scores with a free but Lacken couldn’t break through a stubborn Kingscourt defence to get the goal they desired. Sub Donal Finnegan sent over Lacken’s final score of the game three minutes into injury-time with an effort on his right boot.

With a goal needed for Lacken to snatch a win, Darragh McKenna put his maximum distance to the Kingscourt kick-out and sent it to the Lacken 45-metre line. The Celtics won possession and their keeper Daryl Buckley joined the play to help support their final attack but his pass was misplaced and sent to Barry Reilly who turned on the 45 and kicked the ball to the open net to seal a flattering five-point win.

Kingscourt: Darragh McKenna, Cathal McKeown, Padraig Faulkner(0-2), Shane Duffy, Barry Tully(0-1), Paddy Meade, Odhran Cunningham, Kevin Curtis, Sean Burke, Ciaran Dermody, Barry Reilly(1-6,5f), Ciarán Roe, Jordan Morris(0-2), Alan Clarke, Joe Dillon(1-0)

Subs: Shane Gray for O Cunningham, Tom Tully for K Curtis

Lacken: Daryl Buckley, Kevin Shanaghy, David Wilson, Aodghan Halton, Shane Finnegan, Peter Galligan, Ryan Coyle, Shane Moynagh, Craig Lanauze, Karl Clerkin, James Galligan(0-2f), Darragh O’Reilly, Donal McSorley, Mark Wilson(1-6,5f), James Moynagh

Subs: Philip Moynagh for C Lanauze, Torin Brady for S Moynagh, Michael Shanaghy for D McSorley, Finn Riley for R Coyle, Donal Finnegan(0-1) for D O’Reilly.