KIltale make it five
Kiltale's late surge secured a fifth SHC title in-a-row today in Navan where they got the better of Trim by 2-18 to 0-14.
The absence of James Toher due to injury was a major setback for Trim ahead of today's eagerly-awaited SHC decider.
Backed by the wind, Trim established a 0-9 to 0-8 interval advantage following a fast-paced opening half.
The teams were tied on five occasions in the first 30 minutes with each side enjoying periods of dominance although Trim deserved to take that narrow margin to the dressing room courtesey of a superb Neil Heffernan point.
However, it required a fantastic save by Charlie Ennis to deny Kiltale's Cillian O'Sullivan a Kiltale goal close to
the interval
The points flowed at each end with Brian Dowling sending over three pointed frees and and one from a '65'for
Trim and those scores were augmented by Dimi Higgins, Damien Magee, Cian Lee and a mighty Alan Douglas free.
Kiltale stayed in touch with four pointed Jack Regan frees and one each from Peter Durnin, Cathal McCabe, Ross Ryan and Anthony Forde.
There wasn't much respite for Kiltale early in the second-half as they gave away two early frees and both were converted by Dowling to extend Trim's lead to 0-11 to 0-8.
KIltale got going from Regan's pointed free soon after, but then they also tallied five terrible wides before Cillian O'Sullivan finished to the net for a title-reviving goal and a 1-9 to 0-11 margin.
Trim got back to parity from Dowling's free and again from the same player in response to another Durnin point.
That was as good as it got for Trim and all they could muster was one more point from Alan Douglas in the 50th minute in response to yet another Durnin effort
Ross Ryan's late goal sealed the title for Kiltale as Durnin added three more points to take his tally to seven for the hour while Anthony Forde, Cathal McCabe and Shane Lenehan also hit the target.
Kiltale captain Philip Garvey remembered the late Ronan Kelly in his speech and the man of the match award went to Ross Ryan.