Kildalkey triumph in thrilling shoot-out

Kildalkey squeezed past a determined Killyon challenge in a crucial third round SHC encounter at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday evening. The highlight of this game was the respective abilities of Killyon's Keith Keoghan and Kildalkey's Noel Kirby to hit the target from long-range frees. Keoghan finished with 14 points to his credit while Kirby claimed 13 points. The teams were on level terms four times in the opening half, but not on any occasion after the resumption as a third-quarter surge proved vital for defending champions Kildlakey. "Noel Kirby is worth his weight in gold for us, but Killyon could make the same claim about Keith Keoghan," Kildalkey manager Pat O'Halloran told the Meath Chronicle. "It turned into a sort of shoot-out, but from our perspective it was discipline meltdown, we've never given away so many frees and we will have to remedy that. "Every team wants to beat us this year and at least we had the will to win that game, but we will have to raise our performance, we have Dunboyne in the next round, that won't be an easy game for us," he suggested. There was bit of controversy about Kildalkey's goal with the Killyon players claiming that the sliotar had not crossed the line. "Gary Kelly scored the goal and he claimed that it had crossed the line, it was an important score for us," said the manager. "When you are playing your local rivals and they have plenty of good young players, it's not going to be easy, Killyon are a very good team, they have a good future ahead of them and I'm glad that we have them out of the way, for now anyway," he added. Kildalkey made a brighter start with points from Kirby and Derek Doran before three unanswered Keoghan frees edged Killyon into the lead by the 10th minute. Kildalkey countered and claimed a fortunate-looking Kelly goal, awarded by the umpire after it appeared that Killyon had scrambled the sliotar clear. Dissent for that decision earned Ray McKeown a yellow card and Kirby extended Kildalkey's lead soon after from another free. However, by the end of the opening quarter the sides were tied (0-6 to 1-3) after Keoghan pointed two more frees and a '65' with pinpoint accuracy. The remainder of the half turned into a shoot-out between Keoghan and Kirby as they shared six points with Adam Gannon for Killyon and Kildalkey's Sean Heavey also on the mark. The sides went into the break on level terms, 0-10 to 1-7. Kirby out-scored Keoghan by six points to three in the third-quarter which gave Kildalkey the initiative and, crucially, a 1-13 to 0-13 advantage. Killyon manager Martin Massey introduced Ambrose Connolly and Padraig McKeown for Mark Gannon and Paddy Ryan with 10 minutes remaining, but David Kennedy was stretchered-off following an accidental collision soon after and brought to hospital in Drogheda. he was replaced by Andrew Feeney. When play resumed, the pattern was unaltered and Kildalkey recorded their third successive victory. Kildalkey - G McNally; C Dunne, S Forde, D Laharte; M Keogh, E Keogh, M Doran; S Corrigan, T Fox; G Kelly (1-0), N Kirby (0-13, 11 frees, two '65s'), S Heavey (0-1); P Conneeley, P Keogh (0-1), D Doran (0-2). Killyon - S Quinn; C Foley, JJ Gilsenan, S Mitchaell; P Ryan, R McKeown, D Kennedy; C Keegan, C Canavan; D Raleigh, C Ryan, K Keoghan (0-14, 11 frees, one '65'); A Gannon (0-1), M Gannon, T Raleigh. Subs - A Connolly (0-1) for M Gannon, P McKeown for Mitchell, both 50 mins; A Feeney for Kennedy 54m. Referee - Donal Smyth (Navan O'Mahonys).