Kildalkey labour into last four

The burden of expectation can be huge for hot favourites to carry and Kildalkey almost found that out to their detriment against Navan O"Mahonys in Saturday evening"s SHC quarter-final at Boardsmill. Playing some of the finest hurling in the county, Kildalkey were strongly tipped to easily overcome Navan O"Mahonys and book their semi-final spot against Kiltale, but they struggled to shake off the determined O"Mahonys side. The final group game loss to Kilmessan hinted that Kildalkey have lost some of their sparkle and Saturday"s display will not have instilled confidence in the club that their team can recapture the Jubilee Cup. Kildalkey were not near half as good as they have been in earlier rounds, yet they still managed to scrape a win. Winning when playing poorly can be an attribute and is something Pat O"Halloran will remind his troops of. The game wasn"t the free-flowing spectacle we come to expect when Kildalkey are in action. Play was scrappy and punctuated with fouls and poor shooting. Players mis-interpreted the sod and slipped a lot on the soggy pitch that was in magnificent condition considering the rainfall this summer. Handling was poor, tackling was clumsy and at times there was no structure or substance to any of the play. Four of O"Mahonys points came from placed balls and they could have been a lot closer had they netted one of those chances from Ciaran Dunphy"s late penalty which Gary McNally tipped over the bar to ensure Kildalkey still led 0-11 to 0-7 with two minutes remaining. The penalty was O"Mahonys best chance, but they failed to capitalise. They found Kildalkey below form and with Noel Kirby uncharacteristically wayward from frees the 2005 finalists were there for the taking. However, O"Mahonys couldn"t take advantage. They had some superb individual displays, most notably from the outstanding Paddy Smyth and also from Dunphy and Richie Hogan, but Kildalkey proved they can slog out a result. The half-back line of Sean Corrigan, Enda Keogh and Mairtin Doran were very busy and held the Kildalkey rearguard together and with Kirby way off form it was left to Sean Heavey to lead the attack. Tony Fox battled hard and enjoyed a great tussle against Hogan. The Kildalkey man opened the scoring after three minutes before a magnificent point from Smyth levelled the contest. Padraig Geoghegan was also a threat and he restored Kildalkey"s advantage before Heavey doubled the lead when he capitalised on a Seamus Duignan slip to fire over. O"Mahonys proved they would be no pushovers when Dunphy (free) and a superb Niall McKeigue point sandwiched an awful miss from a scoreable free by Kirby. Unperturbed by his inaccuracy Kirby did get off the mark after Maurice Keogh had pointed to make it 0-5 to 0-3. A fine team move was finished by Donal Hogan to cut the deficit, but despite having a Heavey point chalked off for a square ball Kildalkey finished the half strongly with scores from David Brady and Kirby (free) to lead by 0-7 to 0-4 at the break. After the break Dunphy (two) traded points with Heavey and Geoghegan, but Kildalkey were looking the slightly sharper team and more capable of applying the cutting edge. Kirby pointed another free before Geoghegan hit the side netting with a goal chance. Heavey made it 0-11 to 0-6 before O"Mahonys were handed a lifeline when McNally charged through Dunphy and conceded the penalty. The goalkeeper made amends with a fine save to tip Dunphy"s effort over for a point. The O"Mahonys spirits sank after that and it was Geoghegan who sealed the win with a late point and maintained the Kildalkey bandwagon. Kildalkey - G McNally; E Potterton, S Forde, D Laharte; S Corrigan, E Keogh, M Doran; M Potterton, M Keogh (0-1); N Kirby (0-3, frees), T Fox (0-1), D Brady (0-1); P Keogh, S Heavey (0-3), P Geoghegan (0-3). Subs - N Fitzgerald for M Potterton halftime, G Geoghegan for Fitzgerald 63 mins. Navan O"Mahonys - J Gleeson; W Stynes, S Duignan, D Moran; P Downey, R Hogan, P Connell; John Burke, P Smyth (0-1); A Snowe, A Breathnach, C Dunphy (0-4, three frees, one penalty); James Burke, D Hogan (0-1), N McKeigue (0-1). Subs - K O"Rourke for Stynes 37 mins, M Kelly for James Burke 44m, C O"Rourke for Breathnach 49m. Referee - Gerry O"Brien (Wolfe Tones).