Kill Shamrocks 0-11
Shannon Gaels 0-8

Kill Shamrocks turned around a poor first-half display to dispatch Shannon Gaels this afternoon and advance into the junior football championship final.

The winners trailed by three points at half-time after only managing 0-2 in the first-half hour, but were inspired by Pearse McKenna and Sean Gaffney in the second-half, with the latter notching 0-5 to help see them over the line.

Eamon O'Reilly, who also finished with 0-5, led the line strong for the Blacklion men in the first-half but was denied the net midway through the second-half and had it hit the net it could well have made a telling difference to the game's outcome.

Instead it was Kill that pushed on and got the necessary scores through Conor McCaffrey, Gaffney and full-forward Anthony Brady to set-up their final date with Arva.

Kill were off the mark inside two minutes of this contest when Anthony Brady gathered at his full-forward station and split the posts before Niall Walsh drew Shannon Gaels level with a fifth minute free.

Walsh had the chance to put the Blacklion men in front for the first time but saw his 20-metre free come off the upright and cleared to safety by Kill's scrambling backs. The Gaels had to wait until the 10th minute lead for their first lead via full-forward Eamon O'Reilly but three bad wides followed in the blustery conditions before Walsh could double their lead on the quarter hour mark.

Sean Gaffney darted over a 40-metre free for a sorely needed Kill score, but it was the westerners that went on to dominate the remaining exchanges in the half, while their opponents looked to shore up things by introducing Niall McCaffrey and Donal Kissane as a double switch in the 20th minute.

PP O'Hara landed a fine score to gain some profit from the Gaels' momentum and an Eamon O'Reilly free close the half, when Kill would have been glad to be going in at the break only trailing by 0-5 to 0-3.

Kill boss Barry McLoughlin made a fourth alteration to his starting team for the second-half, introducing Damien O'Brien to his full-forward line and it paid dividends as he had them within a point in the 38th minute after Gaffney (free) notched the Shamrocks' first of the half.

Eamon O'Reilly would be gifted a glorious chance of a goal moments later when his marker let possession slipped by him but Gary Tiernan was quick off his line to smother the veteran attacker's effort.

It proved a major turning point, as points from Anthony Brady (free), O'Reilly (free) and Gaffney levelled the sides for the first time since the fifth minute. O'Reilly (free) and a sweet score from Conor McCaffrey kept it even heading into the final 10 minutes when Kill moved up a gear to pass out their opponents.

A well-executed Sean Gaffney '45' put Kill in front for the first time in 40 minutes and when Anthony Brady slotted over in front of the posts from a placed ball they were two to the good.

McLoughlin's men then worked the move of the match with Gaffney patiently holding possession along the left flank and finding Niall McCaffrey, who offloaded to Luke O'Brien before hitting the deck and the wing back did the rest with a composed finish over Pauric McGovern's crossbar.

A Gaffney free all but ensured a win with two minutes remaining, as a late effort from O'Reilly down the other end was all that the Gaels could muster before time ran out on them.

Kill Shamrocks: Gary Tiernan; Shane McCann, Barry McMenamin, Ciaran O'Reilly; Damien Foster, Aaron McIntyre, Luke O'Brien (0-1); Liam Gaffney, Sean Gaffney (0-5, 4f, 1 45); Conor McCaffrey (0-1), Liam Keane, Pearse McKenna; Ian Middleton, Anthony Brady (0-3, 2f), Darragh McMenamin. Subs: Niall McCaffrey for Middleton (20mins), Donal Kissane for D McMenamin (20), Shane Tiernan for B McMenamin (30, inj), Damien O'Brien (0-1) for D Foster (HT).

Shannon Gaels: Pauric McGovern; Gary Gallagher, Stephen McManus, Michael Griffin; Aaron O'Hara, Jason McLoughlin, Peadar Fitzpatrick; Oliver Nolan, Shane Dolan; Paul McGovern, PP O'Hara (0-1), Conor McCaffrey; Niall Walsh (0-2, 1f), Eamon O'Reilly (0-5, 4f), Ronan McCaffrey. Subs: Nevin O'Donnell for Gallagher (43mins).

Ref: Pat Clarke(Killinkere) Tweet

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