Kildalkey survive late surge to claim A HL Div 5 crown
Despite looking comfortable for the majority of Monday night's A HL Div 5 final Kildalkey were clinging on at the end before finally holding off Navan O'Mahonys' late challenge to claim the silverware with a 3-13 to 3-12 win at Dunganny.
Leading by four points at the break Kildalkey extended their lead after the resumption with points from Jamie Kavanagh, Lee Coldrick and Evan Geoghegan and they when Kavanagh bagged his side's third goal it looked like it put the issue to bed as they extended their lead to 11 points.
However O'Mahonys never gave up. Kildalkey lost the outstanding Conor McNally to a red card and the tide turned.
O'Mahonys substitute Shane McCarthy clipped over his second point to make it a 10-point game with 10 minutes left. Another McCarthy point was quickly followed by a Finn Malone goal to reduce the deficit to six and when Barry McEvoy and Malone added two more points the gap was down to a manageable four and Kildalkey looked nervous.
With a minute remaining McCarthy found the net for O'Mahonys third goal and at that stage there looked like only one winner, but Kildalkey defended heroically with Enda Fitzgerald, Arron Traynor, Ciaran Browne and Cian McGourty emerging with possession time and again to alleviate the pressure and ensure Kildalkey held on.
The early stages of this enthralling final suggested a tight game as unbeaten table toppers Kildalkey fell behind to an Eoghan Nugent point in the opening minute.
With six of last year's successful minor team making the grade at adult level for the first time Kildalkey took a while to settle, but once they did they were impressive.
Lee Coldrick settled the nerves with a goal from Kildalkey's first attack, but O'Mahonys replied with points from Jack Flynn and Paddy Skehan (two) to retake the lead.
Kildalkey lost the influential Sean 'Crash' Corrigan to injury, but others stepped up with Stephen Murray hitting 1-2 and Geoghegan, Martin Browne and Kavanagh also on the mark.
O'Mahonys hit back with a fortunate goal from Barry McEvoy to ensure the game was very much still in the melting pot at the break, 2-8 to 1-7.
However after the break Kildalkey established what proved to be an unassailable lead - just.
Kildalkey - P Fagan; S Corrigan, E Fitzgerald, C McNally; C McGourty, A Traynor, C Browne; J Kavanagh (1-2), T McGee; E Geoghegan (0-5 four frees), A Rickard (0-1), C Smith; S Murray (1-3 one free), L Coldrick (1-1), M Browne (0-1). Subs - M Hand for Corrigan, R Thompson for McGee.
Navan O’Mahonys- John Gleeson; Gerard Dillon, Fran Hynes, Cormac O’Shea; Evan Brady, Sam Formosa, Peter McLoughlin; Jack McConnell, Brian Dunne; Jack Flynn (0-2), Barry McEvoy (1-1), Paddy Skehan (0-4); Finn Malone (1-1), Andrew Snow, Eoghan Nugent (0-1). Subs - Shane McCarthy (1-3) for Hynes, Diarmuid Collins for Skehan.
Referee - Peter O'Halloran (Drumconrath).