U21’s defeated in Championship Quarter Final
The U21 Footballers exited the championship on Saturday evening last, the 30th March, following a comprehensive defeat by Newcestown in Sam Maguire Park Dunmanway.
Having defeated Bantry in a pulsating encounter a week ago, Saturday night proved to be a step too far for our lads. Starting nervously, the Kilmacs were on the back foot immediately and 3 Newcestown goals in the opening quarter meant a huge uphill task for the team. The hard running and accurate passing of the Newcestown men was cutting gaps in our defence and despite the best efforts of Darren Whooley, Myles & Dara Tobin and Adrian Gore it was proving to be a very long evening for the Kilmacs.
The seige was eventually lifted, when hard working midfielder Niall Bowkett goaled in the 19th min and this lead to a purple patch for the Leap lads. Three further points from Damien Gore (free), Bowkett (free) and Dan Lynch put some respectability back on the scoreboard, before another Newcestown scoring spree saw the game effectively finished before half time as a contest. Another Gore free, meant the score read Kilmacabea 1-4 Newcestown 4-8 at the short whistle.
With only pride left to play for in the 2nd half, great credit has to be given to the our men who despite the score-line kept going right to the final whsitle. The introduction of Keith Whelton into the forward line just before half time, seemed to spark a revival into the team’s cause and an Ellis Wilson goal and another free from Gore cut the deficit but it was as close as the lads got to the men from the North East. Two further goals for Newcestown put a further gloss on the scoreline for them, but our lads kept fighting and three late Gore points ended the scoring on a tough night for the Kilmacabea lads.
Despite this heavy defeat, Liam Thompson and his management team of Niall Hayes, Barry Glavin and Johnny O Sullivan can be proud of the spirit shown by our lads and by the never say die attitude shown by the whole squad on the night.
Scorers for the Kilmacs: Damien Gore (0-6, 0-3 from frees), Niall Bowkett (1-2, 0-1 free), Ellis Wilson (1-0), Dan Lynch (0-1)
