Kildalkey work hard for place in the next phase

Kildalkey made it into the quarter-finals of the SHC with plenty to spare on the scorebaoard as they inflicted a 17-point defeat on Killyon at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday evening. Looks can be deceptive and that is certainly true for this particular game as the reigning champions, chasing three-in-a-row, looked as if their crown might slip midway through the second-half. Killyon had closed the gap to two points with a little over 10 minutes remaining, but then Kildalkey found some fluency, reeled off three goals and papered over the cracks. "We expected a tough game and that's exactly what we got, these lads play football together with Ballivor and they know each other well, there was a bit of pride to be preserved on both sides," Kildalkey manager pat O'Halloran told the Meath Chronicle. "I wasn't too happy with our first-half performance, but we went in leading by a point at half-time and we hadn't played particularly well. "We conceded a very soft goal as well, but the aim was to win and we managed that, from here on it's knock-out, it would have been very embarrassing not to have qualified. "The football will take over now for the next few days and all these lads will be battling for each other next Saturday night in the JFC quarter-final, if we can win that one it will keep everyone happy. "One is helping the other and we mix it successfully, up to now anyway, we'll just have to go out and win again, hopefully," he added. On Sunday evening, Killyon were first on the scoreboard when Keith Keoghan converted an early free, but Noel Kirby had Kildalkey on terms soon after when he sent over a massive free from inside his own half. Three more Keoghan frees eased Killyon into a 0-4 to 0-1 advantage before Adam Gannon made the opening for Darren Ryan's first point from play in the 13th minute. Killyon were fortunate to avoid conceding a goal when Derek Doran got through and unleashed a fierce drive from about 12 metres that Stephen Quinn deflected over. That left Kildalkey adrift by three points (0-2 to 0-5) at the end of the opening quarter, but they dominated the remainder of the half and were ahead by the minimum (0-7 to 0-6) at the interval. Tony Fox (two), Sean Heavey, substitute Patrick Conneeley and Kirby from a '65' on the stroke of half-time were the marksmen while faltering Killyon managed a solitary David Raleigh point from play. Referee Richard Morris was kept busy also and had to intervene on a couple of occasions to restore calm - he used the yellow card as a calming device for Heavey (Kildalkey) and Paddy Ryan (Killyon). Kildalkey continued in the ascendancy after the resumption and had a goal in the bank inside two minutes when Doran rifled the sliotar to the net after a high centre was batted down by Killyon full-back Brian Perry, but wasn't cleared. The momentum stayed with Kildalkey and the points flowed from Heavey (two), Gary Kelly and Conneeley for a 1-11 to 0-6 advantage. However, any thoughts Kildalkey had of an easy victory were shattered when Killyon netted twice. David Raleigh found the net with a fine finish and then Keoghan's long-range free dropped under the Kildalkey crossbar. That left two points in it (2-7 to 1-12), but Killyon failed to score for the remaining 10 minutes, Kildalkey regained their composure and won impressively, on the scoreboard at least. Doran completed his hat-trick of goals, Kelly also found the net while Conneeley and Kirby shared six points. Kilalkey will face Trim in the quarter-final in a fortnight, they will be cautious in their approach to that game and that could be important as the dream for three titles remains intact Kildalkey - C Flynn; C Dunne, S Forde, D Laharte; M Keogh, E Keogh, M Doran; S Corrigan, T Fox (0-3); G Kelly (1-1), N Kirby (0-5 three '65s' one free), P Geoghegan, S Heavey (0-3), D Fagan, D Doran (3-1). Subs - P Conneeley (0-5) for Corrigan 17 mins, F McMahon for Fagan 48m. Killyon - S Quinn; JJ Gilsenan, B Perry, A Feeney; C Foley, P Ryan, T Raleigh; P McKeown, D Kennedy; J Mitchell, C Ryan, K Keoghan (1-5 six frees); D Ryan (0-1), D Raleigh (1-1), A Gannon. Subs - J Connor for C Ryan 35 mins, S Bell for McKeown 37m, W Dixon for D Ryan 45m, G Foley for Mitchell 45m Referee - Richard Morris (Blackhall Gaels).