First half goals secure victory for Kilbeggan

Kilbeggan Shamrocks 4-7 St Paul's 1-9

Four first half goals laid the foundations for Kilbeggan Shamrocks’ victory over St Paul’s in the opening round of the Westmeath Junior 1 FC at The Downs last Sunday afternoon.

The football mirrored the weather as an exciting first half played in glorious sunshine and on a perfect pitch made way for a scrappy, error-ridden second period played under thundery skies and the occasional flash of lightning.

Relegated from the intermediate ranks last year, Kilbeggan recovered from the concession of an early goal to hit their Clonmellon opponents with four from Paul Fennell, Conor Delaney, Conor Carroll and Cathal Finn to take a commanding 4-3 to 1-5 lead into the break.

St Paul’s outscored Niall O’Brien’s side by 0-3 to 0-1 after the restart to reduce the gap to five before a 20-minute scoring drought ensued. But Kilbeggan were able to close it out with late points from Delaney and half-backs Colin Draper and Micheál Coffey as St Paul’s were left counting the cost of some poor finishing and serious-looking injuries to Jamie Reilly and Conor Slater.

The Clonmellon men were favoured by the breeze in the first half, but it was Kilbeggan who opened the scoring when Conor Delaney took a return pass from James Finnegan and slotted over in the first minute. Five minutes later, the Meath-border club hit the front for the only time when Darren Dugdale fisted Conor Slater’s centre to the net.

Kilbeggan, however, produced a stunning response that yielded 3-1 without reply in a devastating four-minute spell. Martin Ward and Shaun Pidgeon combined to send Paul Fennell through for a brilliant individual goal before the lively wing-forward immediately followed up with a point.

James Finnegan then dispossessed Jamie Fitzsimons before teeing up Delaney for a neat finish from close range. There was no respite for Pat Clancy’s charges at this stage as wing-back Conor Carroll steamed through for another Kilbeggan major following a lovely layoff from Jack Mullins, who was an early replacement for the injured Danny Scully.

Veteran midfielder Philip Gilsenan steadied St Paul’s with two well-taken points and Conor Rice also split the posts before they were reduced to 14 players for ten minutes after Kenny Higgins was black-carded for taking down James Finnegan. Delaney scored from the resultant free to leave the winners perched on a 3-3 to 1-3 lead after 18 minutes.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, St Paul’s grabbed the next two points per Slater (free) and county hurler Conor Shaw before they were rocked for a fourth time when Cathal Finn fired to the bottom corner after Brendan McMahon and Pidgeon had been involved in the build-up, and just after Higgins had returned to the fray.

Amid drizzle and rumbles of thunder, St Paul’s resumed with points from Gilsenan and Conor Rice before Pidgeon and Cunneen exchanged scores in the fifth minute. Remarkably, the next score didn’t arrive until the 55th minute when Delaney kicked his second free. Slater was then stretchered off with a bad injury before the Shamrocks sealed a victory that never looked in doubt with points from Draper and Coffey either side of a Thomas Flynn free.

For the record, Kilbeggan registered nine wides compared to St Paul’s six.

Scorers – Kilbeggan Shamrocks: C Delaney 1-3 (2fs), P Fennell 1-1, C Carroll and C Finn 1-0 each, S Pidgeon, M Coffey and C Draper 0-1 each. St Paul’s: P Gilsenan 0-3, D Dugdale 1-0, C Rice 0-2, C Shaw, C Slater (f), E Cunneen and T Flynn 0-1 each.

Kilbeggan Shamrocks: Joey O’Neill; Martin Ward, Aidan Stone, Sean Hanlon; Conor Carroll, Colin Draper, Micheál Coffey; David Fennell, Brendan McMahon; Paul Fennell, Shaun Pidgeon, Danny Scully; James Finnegan, Conor Delaney, Cathal Finn. Subs: Jack Mullins for Scully (4 mins, injured), Mel Kiernan for Stone (half-time, inj.), Alan Fennell for Hanlon (38), Eoin Dixon for McMahon (60).

St Paul’s: Oliver Mulvaney; Oisin Kiernan, Robert Dugdale, Kenny Higgins; Jamie Reilly, Jamie Fitzsimons, Niall Leonard; Conor Shaw, Philip Gilsenan; Emmet Cunneen, Conor Slater, Darren Dugdale; Thomas Flynn, Conor Rice, James Moore. Subs: Tiernan Purcell for Moore (29 mins), Rory Carolan for Reilly (half-time, injured), Graham Boland for Slater (56, inj.), Diarmuid Reilly for D Dugdale (60), Darragh Reilly for Kiernan (60).

Referee: Barry Nea (Killucan).