Battling O'Mahonys struggle to contain lively Kildalkey side

Kildalkey...4-13

Navan O'Mahonys...2-15

Colin O'Brien

Navan O’Mahony’s suffered their first defeat in the HL Div 2 on Wednesday evening in Paddy O’Brien Park, after a hotly contested game that could have gone either way until the end.

Jack Walsh opened the scoring following a good play between Jack McConnell and Dermot McKenna. Two minutes later, Kildalkey took the lead with a goal before Walsh responded within seconds with a point.

The sides were level following a Cormac Keyes free in the 5th minute while Walsh put the home side ahead in the eighth minute after receiving an impressive ground clearance from Eoghan Nugent.

The sides exchanged points with Walsh and Finn Malone scoring for the home charges. Kildalkey took the lead again with a thirteenth minute goal and again Navan O’Mahony’s were quick to respond, this time via a Conor O’Dwyer point.

Both sides scored, with Sam Formosa raising a white flag for Navan O’Mahony’s.

Kildalkey scored a goal and a point in quick succession. At the opposite end of the field, Keyes won possession shortly after and burst towards the Kildalkey goal, firing a powerful shot to the corner.

Kildalkey extended the lead with a point until a Keyes free in the last seconds left a point between the sides. Navan O’Mahony’s 1-9 Kildalkey 3-4.

Both sides scored in the opening minute of the second half, with Kildalkey opening from a free and Walsh responding from play. In the sixth minute, both sides again scored with a Kildalkey score from play and a Keyes free.

A three minute spell saw the visitors build up a lead, with two points from play and a converted penalty. The following eight minutes saw both sides add two scores each, with two frees from Keyes.

With ten minutes remaining, Nugent pointed from play after being set up by substitute Jack Flynn. A point from Keyes left five points in it.

Kildalkey looked set to find the net only for an impressive block by Ben McEntagart, the resulting clearance ended with Malone finding the net at the opposite end.

With two points between the sides and five minutes remaining, it was anyone's game. Two Kildalkey points were enough to see it out and they claimed the points on offer in a tough fought game.

Navan O’Mahonys - John Foley, Evan Brady, Ben McEntagart, Gerard Dillon, Jack McConnell, Sam Formosa (0-1), Dermot McKenna, Eoghan Nugent (0-1), Sean McDermott, Conor O’Dwyer (0-1), Jack Walsh (0-5), Cormac Keyes (1-6), Finn Malone (1-1), Shane McCarthy, Sean Davis. Subs - Jack Flynn for McDermott, Rían Breathnach for Davis