Kenny's goal helps Cuchulainns to important win

IFC round 3

Cuchulainns 2-8

Ballymachugh 1-8

Eddie Halligan at St Matthew's Park, Crosskeys

A Micheál Kenny goal in the closing stages of normal time proved to be the catalyst for Cuchulainns in grinding their way to their second win of this year’s Intermediate championship at the expense of 14-man Ballymachugh in St Matthew's Park, Crosskeys on Saturday evening last.

Prior to Kenny’s goal, Ballymachugh were in front by the minimum at 1-8 to 1-7 after an opportunist goal from Shane Tynan in the 44th minute looked to have put the ‘Hughs on their way to a huge win, but Cuchulainns remained composed in the closing minutes despite the pressure building around them with substitute Kenny getting on the end of a brilliant team move in the 55th minute to fire home.

However, the game’s turning point arrived in the 46th minute when ninety seconds after Tynan raised the green flag, Mark Kiernan was sent to the line by referee Jim Giblin after an off the ball altercation which proved to be a moment that completely eroded Ballymachugh’s hopes of springing an upset, despite being in the ascendancy at the time of Kiernan’s sending off.

For the second week in a row, the axis of Peter Devine and Shane Tynan inside the full forward line was pivotal to what was good about Ballymachugh with the duo causing Cuchulainns serious discomfort at times, but the Hugh’s will rue the missed goal chances in the first half along with Kiernan’s sending off to leave Crosskeys wondering what might have been.

On the other hand, Cuchulainns will have been delighted to seal their second win of the championship which leaves them on the cusp of qualifying for the quarter finals, but perhaps they are maybe slightly concerned in the manner of these wins which belies the talent they clearly possess. At times, the Mullagh men were laborious especially evidenced in the second half where they only scored once in 24 minutes prior to Kenny’s goal and looked at times out of sorts, however, their slick and clever interchanging play in attack in the first half showed that Cuchulainns have the capabilities to reach the higher levels necessary to go deep in this year’s championship.

The game was less than a minute old when direct from the throw in, Conor Tynan raced through the Cuchulainns defence to set up Peter Devine, and while a goal looked certain, Cuchulainns goalkeeper, Conor Gallagher superbly denied Devine with a fine stop. Devine floated over his first of the game with a free in the second minute to open the scoring for Ballymachugh, but Cuchulainns soon clicked and a well worked move saw midfielder Turlough Farrelly latch onto the end of a Bryan Magee pass to crash home to the Ballymachugh net.

Adam O'Reilly soon followed up with an excellent score after a Ballymachugh attack broke down to put the men in white at 1-1 to 0-1 in front, but a Shane Tynan free and a Devine point narrowed the gap to one by the 12th minute.

Cuchulainns arguably had their best spell in the next five minutes as they soon settled into their groove and took advantage of Ballymachugh’s sloppy passing in attack which gave the Mullagh men opportunities to increase their turnover success rate. Points from a Magee mark, a brilliant score from outside the boot from Adam O'Reilly, a long-range effort from Cormac O'Reilly and a Magee free saw Cuchulainns in firm control at 1-5 to 0-3 by the 18th minute. Devine jinked his way into a scoring position to score a super point, despite heavy pressure from the Cuchulainns defence, but a Magee free had the margin back to five as the half time proceedings drew near.

Mark Kiernan kicked over a fine score in the 27th minute, but Ballymachugh were then awarded a penalty in the closing stages of the first half when corner back, Christopher Tully, was deemed to ‘touch the ball on the ground’ to deny Shane Tynan’s goal bound attempt after Tynan bore down on goal.

However, Liam Buchanan saw his penalty brilliantly saved by Gallagher to leave Cuchulainns in control at 1-6 to 0-5 at the break.

Ballymachugh followed a similar pattern direct from the restart as in the first half, when they went straight on the attack from the throw in, but this time they were rewarded with a super Shane Tynan score to leave three in it. Glenn McCann pointed for Cuchulainns soon after to keep Ballymachugh at arm’s length, but that would be their last score for 22 minutes as the ‘Hughs slowly but surely began to wrestle the control away from the Mullagh men.

Two Tynan frees, including a brilliant conversion from an acute angle on the 13-metre line, just approximately a metre in from the right sideline, closed the gap to two at 1-7 to 0-8 as Ballymachugh were beginning to believe that an upset was very possible. In the 45th minute, Cuchulainns looked to probe the Ballymachugh defence, but after an attack broke down, the ball was worked up the field where Shane Tynan lay in wait, and from the 45-metre line, the ace marksman sprinted to the Cuchulainns goal to coolly slot past Gallagher to leave Ballymachugh a point to the good.

At this stage, Ballymachugh were winning the key exchanges in the middle third as Cuchulainns began to look ponderous, but disaster struck ninety seconds after Tynan’s goal when Mark Kiernan got involved in an off the ball altercation which ended up with him receiving his marching orders.

Fintan Cahill introduced key forward, Evan Doughty into the fray, but Cuchulainns had to be patient as they looked to make use of the extra man and were rewarded in the 55th minute when substitute Micheál Kenny, latched onto the end of an excellent team move to crash home. That moment seemed to knock the stuffing out of Ballymachugh as Cuchulainns sensed blood and late Bryan Magee point in injury time sealed Cuchulainns' second win of the championship.

Cuchulainns: Conor Gallagher, Christopher Tully, Cian Donoghue, Paul Murray, Niall Carolan, Paddy Lynch, Cian Doughty, Eoghan Donoghue, Turlough Farrelly (1-0), Adam O Reilly (0-2), Conor O Reilly, Oisin Donoghue, Glenn McCann (0-1), Bryan Magee (0-4, 1m, 2f), Cormac O Reilly (0-1)

Subs: Micheal Kenny (1-0) for Oisin Donoghue; Ruairi O Connell for Paul Murray; Evan Doughty for Glenn McCann; Adrian Taite for Conor O Reilly.

Ballymachugh: Kevin Browne, Ben Tierney, Darragh Kiernan, Aaron Briody, Kieran Goldrick, Conor Coyle, Gary Murtagh, Liam Buchanan, Mark Kiernan (0-1), Conor Tynan, James Smith, Stephen Halton, Gary Kelly, Peter Devine (0-3, 1f), Shane Tynan (1-4, 3f)

Subs: Thomas Kiernan for Stephen Halton; Ryan Smith for Gary Murtagh.