Giles helps Coralstown-Kinnegad cruise past Shamrocks

Coralstown-Kinnegad 1-12 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-9

Jason Keelan

Four points from player of the match Darren Giles helped Coralstown-Kinnegad to a relatively easy victory over Mullingar Shamrocks in Killucan yesterday evening.

Having lost their opening games by small margins, both sides were out to get themselves back on track in the championship in their second round robin group game.

A pacy start full of attacking intent got Coralstown-Kinnegad off to a flyer. A Darren Giles free (his first of four scores) and a Callum Cruise effort gave the advantage to the men in red and white. Before the clock hit double-digits, their lead was extended. Some fantastic reading by Liam Daly allowed him to intercept the kickout from Philip Shaw. Daly continued his run before firing across Shaw into the far corner. The response from Shamrocks came from a Dennis Corroon free, his first of six scores.

No sooner had they opened their scoring Ross Corroon was black carded for a foul on the pacy Jason Lynch. Josh Gahan was having a great game at centre half back and his interception allowed his team to break, with Giles converting the resulting free high against the swirling wind. Coralstown-Kinnegad continued to draw the Shamrocks defenders out of position with interchanging runs. Eoin O’Brien got his name on the scoresheet, albeit not without an argument as to whether the ball went over. Shamrocks kept in the game with scores from Corroon and a curling point by Jordan Warde after athletic fielding by Killian Daly.

Coralstown-Kinnegad refused to be caught and scores in quick succession from Wayne Fox and Bracken left them 1-7 to 0-4 up after a feisty first thirty minutes which saw five yellow cards dished out by Alan Coyne.

Shamrocks introduced Paddy Fagan and Paddy Joyce at the break but continued to struggle to find a way past the disciplined opposition defence. In contrast, Coralstown-Kinnegad broke quickly and always had runners in Lynch, James Maxwell, Cooney and Cruise. This was evidenced by a wonderful score from Leech after David Giles had turned over possession in his own half just moments before.

Shamrocks did respond but Dean Moore was unfortunate to see his powerful strike cannon back off the crossbar. At the other end, O’Brien will wonder how he didn’t end the contest when he was given the freedom of the pitch, but saw his low, drilled shot creep wide.

One of the finer scores came via Cruise, who threw two dummies before slotting over. The final act was for Sean Martin to deny David Gavin with a smothering low save to compound a miserable evening for Shamrocks.

Although Shamrocks are going through somewhat of a transition period, Coralstown-Kinnegad looked full value for their win.

Scorers:

Mullingar Shamrocks: D Corroon 0-6 (5f), J Warde, R Corroon, P Fagan 0-1 each

Coralstown-Kinnegad: Dar Giles 0-4 (3f), C Cruise 0-3, L Daly 1-0, G Leech 0-2 (1f), E O’Brien, W Fox, E Bracken 0-1 each

Mullingar Shamrocks: Philip Shaw; Ryan Blundell, Efe Siode, Marc Eivers; Conn O’Hanlon, David Coyne, Dillon Matthews; Dennis Corroon, David Gavin; Killian Daly, Ross Corroon, Eddie Moore; Ollie McNamara, Dean Moore, Jordan Warde. Subs Used: Paddy Fagan for R Corroon (30), Paddy Joyce for E Moore (30), Lorcan Smyth for McNamara (48), Micheal Curley for Eivers (52), Aaron Purcell for O’Hanlon (60).

Coralstown-Kinnegad: Sean Martin; Jason Lynch, David Giles, Ciaran Daly; Eoin O’Brien, Josh Gahan, Eoghan Bracken; Wayne Fox, Ciaran Daly Jnr; James Maxwell, Darren Giles, Callum Cruise; Brian Cooney, Liam Daly, Ger Leech. Subs Used: Colm Murray for Cooney (43), Podge Quinn for Fox (57), Danny Woods for Leech (59), Ronan Foley for Cruise (60).

Referee: Alan Coyne (CFCW)

Match at a Glance

Player of the Match

If he wasn’t kicking scores, he was catching kickouts and turning over possession in his own half – Darren Giles was immense.

Key Moment

Liam Daly’s goal put Coralstown-Kinnegad 1-2 ahead early on and gave them the reward for their determination going forward.