Kilmessan crush Gaeil Colmcille in a canter

It is only two games into the SHC and already the destiny of both Kilmessan and Gaeil Colmcille appears to be written in the stars. A second win of the campaign for Kilmessan at Trim on Thursday evening ensures they remain on course for an automatic semi-final spot, while for Gaeil Colmcille the trap door to intermediate hurling is starting to creek under their weight of under-achievement. Thursday's 28-point loss, added to their 14-point reversal at the hands of Kiltale in the opening round, suggests that Gaeil Colmcille are in drastic need of a turnaround in fortunes if they are to have any hope of avoiding relegation. When the SHC challenges were set out in front of them in May, Gaeil Colmcille would not have expected to gain anything from this second round tie, but they would have liked to use the game as a gauge for where they stand in the pecking order. On this performance, they are firmly rooted to the bottom of that table. They were never in contention at any stage of Thursday's clash with a Kilmessan side that were relentless and showed a determination and hunger that suggests they want the Jubilee Cup back. While Kilmessan feasted on Gaeil Colmcille like a starved lion savaging a stunned gazelle, they did leave some meat on their prey's bones as they managed 14 wides to suggest that they might be fallible against a stronger animal. Gaeil Colmcille had little to enthuse about. Their paltry return of just four scores isn't tempered by the fact that they only shot six wides. They also had to finish the game with 14 men following the 54th minute sending off of Colin Tormey for a straight red card. However, if they were to take any positives it would be a couple of fine saves by Cormac Ferguson that limited Kilmessan's margin of victory to under 30 points. Despite those fine stops from Ferguson he could do little to prevent Kilmessan rattling the net six times with goals from Kevin Keena (two), Peter Farrell (two), Nicky Horan and Stephen Clynch. Keena's pair of goals came in a first-half which saw him end with 2-3 to his name, he didn't add to that tally after the resumption, but there were enough of his team mates happy to get on the scoresheet with seven Kilmessan players on target. Even though they were in cruise control throughout, Kilmessan didn't have to find top gear. Key players were prominent, without having to over-exert themselves and that was just as well for Clynch as he had featured for the Meath junior footballers just 24 hours earlier. All bar four points of Kilmessan scores came from play and despite a bright start by Gaeil Colmcille, which yielded points from Brendan Murray and Tommy Shine, they failed to score in the final 37 minutes with Kilmessan outscoring them by 4-10 to 0-0 in that period. Kilmessan started well with Horan netting after five minutes. Keena made it 2-6 to 0-3 before Stephen Reddy gave the Kells men their highlight of the evening with their only goal, but that was it was Gaeil Colmcille. Keena grabbed his second goal to boost Kilmessan to a 3-7 to 1-3 interval lead and after the break it was all one-way traffic on the tremendous Trim turf as Clynch and Farrell added goals to ease Kilmessan to their second win. Kilmessan - C Curtis; E Horan, P O'Brien, P McGovern; M Horan, J Keena, M Munnelly; D Donnelly, R Donnelly; P Farrell (2-0), E Marsh (0-2), S Clynch (1-2); K Keena (2-3), G O'Neill (0-2), N Horan (1-6, 0-4 frees). Sub - C Keena (0-1) for Clynch 43mins. Gaeil Colmcille - C Ferguson; A O'Connell, M Foley, P O'Neill; B Smith, B Murray (0-2, frees), P Tormay; B Tormay, K Reilly; G McGovern, E O'Sullivan, C Tormay; T Shine (0-1), R Flanagan, S Reddy (1-0). Referee - Arthur Reilly (Boardsmill).