Late surge prove vital in Bunclody win.
Date: 13th Aug. ‘07 Venue: Bunclody Opponents: Bunclody Competition: U-21 Premier football County Semi-final Full time score: (Shels) 0-9 (Opp.) 2-9
First Half Report:
This game was played between two very good football sides who had many battles at underage over the years. In the minor final 3 years earlier the Shels were victorious, but unfortunately, many of this Shels team were not regular players at this stage and the Shels lined out with 9 of their present minor team.
The Shels started the game well and seemed to be in control. However they were failing to make their dominance tell on the scoreboard. The fact that 5 of their team had played Senior hurling championship against St. Martins the previous day seemed to be affecting the speed of their play as they were not as lively as usual. Eoin Doyle had scored 3 good points for the Shels and after 20 minutes the Shels lead 0-3 to 0-2, Bunclody’s first point coming after 18 minutes. However, when Clive Lalor was temporarily forced off the field due to a blood injury, Bunclody pounced for a well worked goal. Ciaran O’Shaughnessy temporarily picked up Clive Lalor’s man at centre back and a bit more space than usual allowed David Reck, operating at wing forward, to make a good cross to find Shane Kehoe who scored a great goal. Bunclody were now on a high and finished the half strongly leading
1-4 to 0-3.
Second Half Report:
The second half saw complete dominance by the Shels team for the first 15 minutes. Five unanswered points from T.Barron, B.Malone, J.Murphy, A.Griffith and E.Doyle (free) put the Shels ahead by one point. The shels were now in control but 3 missed frees, two from E.Doyle and one from C.Lalor, as well as a missed scoring chance by B.O’Connor allowed Bunclody stay in the game. Bunclody responded with a point from David Reck, now operating at corner forward. Then a great save by Ciaran Murphy prevented Shane Kehoe from scoring his second goal, but then an error by C. Murphy in clearing his lines allowed Jamie Kehoe in for an easy goal. The Shels, who should have been well ahead, were now chasing the game. Then Eoin Doyle was harshly sent off after a late tackle on Dylan Kehoe, with only a few minutes remaning and the Shels were in serious trouble. Bunclody finished with 3 late points from frees by Darren Kehoe.
Shels Team
1. Ciaran Murphy
2. Niall Kelly
3. Aaron Waters
4. Andre O’brien
5. Thomas Barron (0-1)
6. Clive Lalor
7. Ciaran O’Shaughnessy
8. Brian Malone (0-1)
9. Conor Walsh
10. Alan Griffith (0-2)
11. Eoin Doyle (0-4 ;0-2 frees)
12. James Murphy (0-1)
13. Thomas Byrne
14. Joe Kelly
15. Brian O’Connor
Subs
David Kenny for C.Lalor (temp)
D. Kenny for A. Griffity (temp)
D. Kenny for T. Byrne
Brendan Larkin for Brian O’Connor
Also
Willie O’Shaughnessy, Ryan Devereux, Allan Walsh, Conor Byrne and Conor O’Neill