McCabe to the Fore For Tubberclair

Tubberclair 3-19 Kilbeggan Shamrocks 0-10

Jason Keelan

The scorching heat in Shandonagh didn’t stop Tubberclair from dominating the majority of the game against their opponents, Kilbeggan Shamrocks.

The tone was set from the early moments when Stephen McGonagle played a give-and-go with Paul Garvey, with Robbie Curley tapping over the resulting free. The early pressure continued as Eoghan McCabe kicked his first free which was then followed by Fred Kelleher kicking a super score off his left. As if the start couldn’t get much worse for Kilbeggan, the next short kickout was quickly turned over by Matthew Whittaker and he calmly slotted to the net. Kilbeggan opted to put Conor Delaney in a more defensive role but the inside forwards of Delaney and Coffey, in particular, were winning most of the battles despite being outnumbered.

Kilbeggan’s first major chance came in the 12th minute but Sean Pidgeon saw his shot cannon back off the base of the post after good link play between Darragh Coffey, James Hanlon and Nigel Scally to put him through. Scally did eventually open his side’s scoring on the quarter hour mark from a free, his first of five placed balls for the game. Moments later, Tubberclair responded with Garvey knocking over a rebound after Aidan Stone blocked a certain goal on the line.

McCabe worked well around the middle and his long ball into Coffey was well caught. The forward opted not to take the mark, instead laying it back to McCabe who composed himself to score from just inside the ‘45. By now, Tubberclair were already eight ahead with barely twenty minutes played.

A wonderful dummy from Garvey allowed him to score off his left. The game was effectively ended on the half hour mark when Kelleher finished to the net to give Tubberclair a 2-12 to 0-4 lead.

Tubberclair constantly turned over possession in their own half and made the breaks when needed. Kilbeggan relied on Scally’s frees to keep them going. Both McGonagle and Jason McHugh were leaders at the back for Tubberclair. Conor Elliott’s goal with eight minutes left was the icing on the cake and although Kilbeggan did get points from several different scorers, it was too much of a gap to bridge.

Scorers

Tubberclair: E McCabe 0-6 (4f), M Whittaker 1-2, F Kelleher 1-1, C Elliott 1-0, P Garvey 0-3, A Coffey 0-2, R Curley 0-2 (1f), R Delaney, J Madden 0-1 each, O O’Meara 0-1 (1f)

Kilbeggan Shamrocks: N Scally 0-5 (5f), C Dreaper, J Hanlon, N Carey, S Pidgeon, D Scully 0-1 each

Tubberclair: Kevin Fagan; Stephen McGonagle, Jason McHugh, Aaron Brady; Daniel Sammon, Grahan Whittaker, Oisín Donohue; Eoghan McCabe, James Madden; Fred Kelleher, Matthew Whittaker, Rory Delaney; Robbie Curley, Paul Garvey, Alan Coffey. Subs Used: Seán Claffey for Sammon (inj) (35), Conor Elliott for Curley (44), Oisín O’Meara for Delaney (46), Shane Harrington for Coffey (52), Kevin Claffey for G.Whittaker (52)

Kilbeggan Shamrocks: Adrian Carroll; Martin Ward, James Fox, Colin Dreaper; Mark Wrafter, Aidan Stone, James Hanlon; Nigel Scally, Brendan McMahon; Niall Carey, Sean Pidgeon, Padraig Carton; Danny Scully, Darragh Coffey, Conor Delaney. Subs Used: Michael Coffey for Carton (36), Alan Fennell for McMahon (44), Mel Kiernan for Wrafter (44), Keith Corcoran for Carey (50).

Ref: Mickey Dan Murtagh (The Downs)