Kilmessan 0-15
Killyon 0-12

Kilmessan maintained their bid to retain the Ted Murtagh SHC with victory in this Group B round five clash on Thursday evening at Trim where Killyon's campaign ended.

The champions fully deserved their narrow win. They were never headed and had the wherewithal to respond when threatened by a dogged Killyon side for whom a draw would have been the ticket to the knockout stage.

Goal chances were scarce and the best one fell to Killyon in the 50th minute when Ray Massey's effort crashed off the crossbar at the 'country' end and Calvin Ryan was unable to steer the rebound past Mark Brennan.

Had it gone to the net the scores would have been tied at 1-9 to 0-12. Instead Kilmessan tagged on two points courtesy of top scorer Darren Reilly (one play, one 65).

Apart from his accuracy from placed balls that yielded six points, the Kilmessan number 13 operated to great effect as a third midfielder.

Massey's points from frees accounted for half of Killyon's tally and helped Declan Mullen's men to within a goal of Kilmessan in the second of four minutes of stoppage time.

A goal for Killyon would have put them in the driving seat but David Raleigh's stoppage time effort skied over the bar before Ger O'Neill closed the scoring with his third top-drawer score of the evening.

Full-forward Kevin Keena also chipped in with three points from play for Kilmessan to compliment an impressive workmanlike display that left Killyon on the back foot for most of the hour.

Marty Mulhall - a relative novice at this level - capped an industrious hour with one of Kilmessan's four early points that proved crucial to the outcome.

By the ninth minute, Kilmessan led by 0-4 to 0-0 before Calvin Ryan got Killyon's blank off the board with a notable effort from distance.

The first of Stefan Kelly's brace of points tied the scores for the only time, 0-4 each, after 18 minutes. Two minutes later, Darren Reilly's first pointed free restored Kilmessan's lead which they maintained to the end.

That they did was also down to a solid defence in which Shane Brennan and Peter Farrell formed a strong central spine while the experience of Paddy McGovern was crucial.

Nicky Horan's sole score was textbook effort from his own 65. Though it was quickly countered by a Kelly score Kilmessan went on to lead by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break.

Ger O'Neill's second score was the highlight of the third quarter while Kevin Keena's third left the scoreboard reading 0-11 to 0-8 at the mid point of the second-half.

The best Killyon could do in the time remaining was trim one point off that deficit and were unable to muster the scores to prolong their campaign.

Kilmessan - Mark Brennan; Paddy McGovern, Shane Brennan, Paddy Maguire; Malcolm Doyle, Peter Farrell, Charlie Keena; Martin Horan, Ger O'Neill (0-3); Pauric Burke (0-1), Nicky Horan (0-1), Marty Mulhall (0-1); Darren Reilly (0-6, 5fs, 1 65), Kevin Kenna (0-3), Kevin O'Reilly. , Sub - Danny Thynne for O'Reilly (60).

Killyon - Joe Connor; Andy Feeney, Adam Farrell, Thomas Raleigh; David Kennedy, Ger Foley, JJ Gilsenan; Keith Keoghan (0-1), Conor Foley; Stefan Kelly (0-2), Adam Flanagan, David Raleigh (0-1); Calvin Ryan (0-1), Ray Massey (0-6), Adam Gannon. Subs - Clayton Keegan (0-1) for Kelly (27), Brendan Quinn for Feeney (42), Cillian Canavan for Kennedy (43), Kelly for Flanagan (54).

Referee - Conor Ferguson (Gaeil Colmcille)

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