O'Halloran on fire as Kildalkey demolishes Dunderry

Kildalkey hit Dunderry for six goals in the extremely one sided affair

SHC

Kildalkey 6-31

Dunderry 1-14

TOM GANNON

It's not too often that you see a hurling team reaching a total scoring tally of half a century but Kildalkey almost got there as they racked up 49 points in their demolition of Dunderry on Saturday evening in Athboy.

If there were any doubts over the uncompetitive nature of the Meath SHC, this game was the straw on the camel, the tip on the iceberg and, for Dunderry, the final nail in the coffin as they are now bound for Senior B.

The county champions were awesome and ruthless throughout and their longest stretch without a score was only four minutes. Conor Fitzgerald rattled in a hat trick and Nicky Potterton added his usual injection of pace to the Kildalkey attack. The real star though was Brian O’Halloran who gave an absolute exhibition in midfield.

O’Halloran opened the scoring with a wonderful individual score from distance after he won back possession before letting fly. O’Halloran added another a few moments later before Evan and Conor Fitzgerald opened their accounts.

In the early exchanges, Dunderry didn’t let Kildalkey have it all their own way and points from Mark and Conor Leavy along with two from Evan Nolan left the men in black just two behind after 12 minutes.

Kildlakey stepped it up a notch and managed to score five unanswered points on the bounce before the real sucker blow. Brian O’Halloran managed to find Conor Fitzgerald who finished the sliotar brilliantly to the bottom corner for the game's opening goal.

That goal seemed to open the floodgates as Kildalkey rattled off another five unanswered points. Points from Stephen Coogan and Jordan Martyn gave the Dunderry faithful something to cheer.

Kildalkey didn’t rest on their laurels for too long though. Two goals late in the first-half from Niall McNally and Patrick Barnwell ensured Kilakdey a comfortable half-time lead of 3-16 to 0-7.

Nick Fitzgerald’s side didn’t waste any time after the break as they registered the first seven scores of the second-half. During which, Conor Fitzgerald managed to find the net again for his second and Kildalkey’s fourth goal.

Not long later, Patrick Barnwell also found the net for a second time to put 28 points ahead of their opponents and there was still 20 minutes left to play. Barnwell’s goal was also the third occasion where O’Halloran had made the crucial pass in the build-up to a green flag raiser.

O’Halloran and Leavy traded scores before Kildalkey rattled off another seven points on the trot, five of which came from the full forward line of Potterton, McNally and Gary Kelly.

Moments later, Conor Fitzgerald completed his hattrick with O’Halloran once again providing the assist. Dunderry, to their credit, battled on and were rewarded with a consolation goal when Cian Coogan got on the end of a scramble inside the Kildalkey penalty area. Nicky Potterton wrapped up proceedings with his fourth successful free.

Kildalkey - Caemerhon Smith; David Conneely, Brian Coffey, Brendan McKeon(0-1); Mark Healy, Luke Rikard, (0-1) Brin Kelly(0-1); Evan Fitzgerald(0-3), Brian O’Halloran(0-5); Conor Fitzgerald(3-2), Patrick Conneely(0-3), Patrick Barnwell(2-2), Nicky Potterton(0-7, four frees), Gary Kelly(0-3), Niall McNally(1-2). Subs - James McNally for Healy 3m, Jamie Kavanagh(0-1) for Coffey 39m.

Dunderry – Jack Fagan; Cian Coogan(1-1), Ronan Brady, Niall O’Laoire; Fionn McHale, Jamie Leavy, Liam Coogan; Conor Leavy(0-3), Jamie Duffy; Jordan Martyn(0-1), Darragh Fay, Donagh O’Laoire; Mark Leavy(0-3), Stephen Coogan(0-1), Evan Nolan(0-5) Subs – Liam Rattigan for Brady 29m, Tadgh Dowd for J Leavy 60m.

Referee – Kevin Brady