Kilbride 1-20 Syddan 1-13

Kilbride flex’s there muscles as they win their second game in this year’s championship in Slane on Friday night and puts them right back in the mix.  

Kilbride left Slane with a 7 point win against Syddan and in doing so avenge last years qtr final defeat. Kilbride are firmly back in contention with this win, quick and hard working was the formula…Josh Harford  and David O’Leary account for 1-14 between them. 

It was an even enough contest early on as both teams were guilty of giving away possession but once the first point went over it was end to end for the first half hour. It was frantic at times with both teams defenders making last ditch tackles to deny what looked like clear goal chances at times…it was 5 pts to four in favour of Syddan after 18 minutes However it was Kilbride who dominated the last ten minutes in the first half, David O’Leary levelled it on 19 minutes. Points from Timmy Farrell, Adam Malone and Josh Harford had the Kilbride men in front by two, David O,Leary slotted over another free before Syddan responded through Daire Rowe. O’Leary again responded with another point from the outside of his foot.  Syddan we’re dealt a massive blow when Josh Harford scored a terrific goal when drilling a rasper into the top corner of the net from an accuse angle to extend Kilbride lead out to 6 points as the clock reached 30 minutes. The ref would find 8 minutes of injury time after a lengthy stop due to an injury to Syddan’s midfielder. This allowed them regroup and they rallied to score three more points to only leave three in it at half time and all to play for. 

Half time Kilbride 1-09  Syddan  0-09 

After the break Kilbride we’re immense kicking 11 points in the next 30 or so minutes  of which 10 we’re from play, David O’Leary his 6th,  Conor McWeeney and another from Josh Harford put them in total control, however they didn’t have it all there own way when on 40 minutes Syddan were given a life line. 5 points down but a misplaced kick out that dropped to Daire Rowe  resulted in a goal for Syddan, back in it, another two quick fire points would level it and game back on but this young Kilbride team showed great maturity. Anthony Barker was outstanding at the back, Mark Dempsey was finally getting a handle on the lively Daire Rowe and the half back line of Conor O’Driscoll, Andrew McWeeney and Finn White we’re stopping everything that came there way. Skipper Ronan O’ Leary was the calming influence who was qtr back like all over the pitch. Cathal McKeown was bossing midfield and Kilbride forward line were prolific in front of goal that was led by Josh Harford at Full forward who kicked 4 more point all from play and from distance in the last 20 minute to bring his tally to 1-06 for his evenings work, David O’Leary was a constant threat as to was Adam Malone who got his 2nd before being replaced by Cadhla McKenna who immediately got in on the act with a fabulous point as the clock ticked down. David O’Leary would have the last say with a pointed free on 62 minutes to bring his tally to 8 points and to record a well deserved win for an ever improving team. 

This was Kilbride’s best performance of the season so far and with players now returning from injury and from J1s they now must be real contenders. More will be know in two weeks when they take on Dunsany in Curraha. 

Kilbride team: Craig Manning, Dean Stapelton, Mark Dempsey, Anthony Barker, Andrew McWeeney, Conor O’Driscoll, Finn White, Cathal McKeown, Timmy Farrell 0-1, Conor McWeeney 0-2, James Brown, Ronan O’Leary, Adam Malone 0-2, Josh Harford 1-06 David O’Leary 0-08..

Subs: Paddy Peter’s for J Brown, Jamie McWeeney for A Barker, Cadhla McKenna 0-01 for A Malone, Daniel Boyd for D Stapelton, Zack McGovern for R Malone. 

 

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