Kinsale 2-13, Shamrocks 2-7
Kinsale ran out 6 point winners over Shamrocks in Kinsale on Sunday afternoon last. Both team had been concentrating on the big ball in recent weeks and there was a fair bit of rustiness on both sides, in particular early on. Kinsale played with the strong breeze in the first half and went into an early 0-2 to 0-0 lead before Stephen Keane got the first of his two goals for Shamrocks.
It was tight enough in that half with Kinsale, obviously with the aid of the wind, finding the scores that bit easier to come by. Their free taker was on form throughout and punished any silly Shamrocks fouls – he must have scored 1-8 from frees in total. Meanwhile, Kinsale had moved 0-9 to 2-1 ahead at the break after Stephen Keane had scored his second goal and Seanan Collins had struck over a free into the wind.
Kinsale stretched their lead to 0-10 to 2-1 early on in the second half and both teams traded points over the next 10 minutes, Alan McCarthy really coming into the game at left half back, from where he struck over 4 points from play in the second half alone. However, the inability to get any real scoring return from play from the forwards cost Shamrocks and after a golden opportunity of a goal was completely missed in front of the Kinsale goal when the sides were level with 10 minutes to go, the home side broke upfield and dominated the remainder of the game and scored 1-2 from frees and wrapped up things with a late goal.
Shamrocks played some nice hurling at times and the touch, while still needing lots of work, was vastly improved from earlier in the season. The concession of so many frees to such a good free taker was another noteworthy point. However, with plenty of games and hurling training sessions over the next 3 weeks, theses problems will hopefully be ironed out. Next outing is a home game against Valley Rovers on Wednesday night.
After the game the Kinsale Captain received the Jack Barrett Cup which is played annually between the two clubs.
Team: M. O’Neill, J. Tuohy, S. O’Reilly, J. Browne, A. McCarthy, D. O’Neill, C. Brady, F. O’Neill, M. Prout, N, Hayes, S. Collins, B. Mulqueen, B. Cusack, D. Collins, S. Keane. Sub used – J. Wilson.
