15th April Drumgoon 0-15, Kildallan 1 – 11
Drumgoon left it to the very last second,to seal victory after a titanic battle with ACFL rivals Kildallan at Boyle’s Park
last saturday evening. In a game that was level on seven occasions, the west cavan men seemed destined to head home
with a share of the points, only for county star Conor Moynagh, to direct an exocet over the black spot, from 32 metres
for the winning point.
Moynagh’s master of the outside of the foot delivery worked the oracle for a Drumgoon team that was forced to pull out all the
stops to bag the spils on offer. That the homesters had to wait unti the final kick of the game was testimony to Kildallan’s
stubbor opposition and Drumgoon own inability to unearth a knockout punch from their armoury.
The game was a top class contest and was always likely to go to the wire, as punch was followed by counter punch throughout the
tie which was played in perfect conditions. The impressive Shane Mc Gorry opened the scoring for Drumgoon with less than a minute gone.
From there to Moynagh’s last second winner, it was all action stuff, with a whole heap of personnel duels, hard hits and lots of spillages,
adding to the excitement, if not the quality of the play. The pendulum swung this way and that with monotonous regularity. After Mc Gorry’s opener
Kildallan keeper, Ronan Fitzpatrick, had to race smartly off his line to intercept the ball before Conal Farrell could gain possession. Fourteen minutes later with Drumgoon winning by the odd point in 5, it was the turn od the Drumgoon keeper, Niall Mc Intyre, to fist clear from a dangerous inviting ball from Aaron Duignan.
With Eddie Gaffney, doing a effective job as “Drumgoons sweeper”, the visitors laboured to gain any traction from their insid eline but a long range point (18) from Niall Cassidy provided much excitement. With Michael Mc Donald gobbling up a raft of high ball, the hosts has a solid foothold in the middle third of the field and an excellen long distance point from the Drumgoon number 8, Adrian Crosson, edged his side into a 4 to 3 lead after 19 minutes.
Three minutes later, Drumgoon engineered a gift edged goal chance with Pauric Mc Gorry and Conor Moynagh combining to put Conal Farrell through. However the Drumgoon forward rifled his shot from point blank range against the crossbar, rather than underneath it with the sides deadlocked at 4 points each.
The high tempo nature of the game continued right to the short whistle with excellent points from Neasan Neary (23) and Cathal Sheridan (31) sandwiching an equally good effort from Keith Fannin (28). Leading by 7 to 6 at the start of the second half, Kildallan immediately went in search of a goal on the restart but Barry Cooney’s timely intervention precented Cathal Sheridan from getting on the ball within spittin distance of keeper Niall mc Intyre. It was still anoyone’s game as Pauric Mc Gorry launched the ball over the bar to make it 8 each. Then in the 38th minute of the game came what looked like the defining score when Ryan O’ Neill palmed the ball to the Drumgoon net after good combination play from Sheridan and Cassidy. Drumgoon showed the requisite amount of hunger, determination and ability though to not only hang on in there but to win the game with a sweet move up along the stand involving Darren Lavery, Moynah and Fannin, ended with the latter almost raising the roof off the stand. With mc Donald’s star undimmed in the cockpit and his team mates gaining the lions share of the breaks, Kildallan had to work overtime to hang in there, but their goose looked cooked when they went 1-9 to 14 behind, with four minutes left to play.
Excellent points thereafter though from Mc Partland and O’ Neill looked set to give the visitors something for their troubles but Moynaghs’ magical touch changed all that in an instant.
Scorers for Drumgoon Keith 0-6, Shane 0-3, Mick 0-2, 1 pt each Conor, Adrian, Pauric & Conal
Drumgoon:- Niall Mc Intyre, Eamon Mc Cluskey, Killian Moynagh, Tommy Mc Kitterick, Barry Cooney, Dominic Donegan, Darren Lavery, Adrian Crosson, Mick Mc Donald, Shane Mc Gorry, Conor Moynagh, Pauric Mc Gorry, Conal Farrell, Keith Fannin, Eddie Gaffney
Kildallan:- Ronan Fitzpatrick, Niall Crowe, Fergal Donohue, Ciaran Donohue, Neasan Neary, Peadar Reilly, Eoghan Doonan, Cathal Sheridan, Niall Cassidy, Oisin Bannon, John O’ Neill, Darragh Mc Govern, Conor Crowe, Aaron Duigan, Ryan O’ Neill
Ref:- Tony Gregory
8th April Drung 2 – 07, Drumgoon 2 – 13
Drumgoon senior men opened their campaign with a good win over Drung, in Bunnoe, on a glorious Saturday evening, on a scoreline of 2- 13 to 2- 07. Players to the fore for Drumgoom, were Barry Cooney and Mick Mc Donald, while Declan Mc Entee tried hard for Drung. Drumgoon: Corey Smith, Killian Moynagh, Tommy Mc Kitterick, Eamon Mc Cluskey, Mark Murray, Dominic Donegan, Barry Cooney, Mick Mc Donald, Adrian Crosson, Shane Mc Gorry, Conor Bates, Conal Farrell, Keith Fannin, Ronan Mc Donald, Eddie Gaffney.
Scorers for Drumgoon, Keith Fannin 2-2, Conal Farrell 0-6, Shane Mc Gorry 0-2, 1 pt each Mick Mc Donald, Barry Cooney and Mark Murray.
Drung, James Reilly, Greg Rossiter, Paul Heuston, Jim Cassidy, Lorcan Mc Entee, Micky Mc Entee, Dan Sheridan, Declan Mc Entee, John Cassidy, Kevin Mc Caul, Alan Curran, Niall Cassidy, Gary Mc Caul, Francie Hughes, Andrew Rossiter,
Scorers for Drung:- Declan Mc Entee 0 – 5, Alan Curran 1 – 1, Francie Hughes 1 – 0, Kevin Mc Caul 0 – 1.
Ref Jason Reilly