Kiltane blow Mayo group wide open

Kiltane blow their group wide open


SFC GROUP 2
Kiltane 1-12
Knockmore 1-10

Michael Duffy
Bangor Erris

NOT many saw this one coming. Knockmore were as short as 1/6 with the bookmakers for Sunday afternoon’s championship opener in Bangor but Kiltane simply tore up the formbook to pull off a truly famous victory over one of the championship favourites.
The men from the Barony were very much deserving winners as Knockmore simply never hit top gear and now face a tough battle to advance from this competitive group.
The key to Kiltane’s victory was most definitely Mikie Sweeney’s second half goal which stopped Knockmore’s anticipated comeback right in its tracks.
The wind that prevailed in Bangor was gale-force for most of the game and the big crowd had expected the pre-match favourites to overcome their three point half-time deficit with the aid of the elements.
However, Sweeney’s fisted goal on 43 minutes, coupled with points from Ed Barrett and Ultan Corrigan shortly after, left Knockmore with a six point gap to bridge with only 12 minutes remaining.
And despite territorial dominance, Ray Dempsey’s men ultimately came up short. The loss of Mayo’s Trevor Howley to a leg injury at the start of the second period also proved crucial.
Kiltane had the strong wind at their backs in the first half and went two points up early on as the influential Mikie Sweeney and Shane Lindsay (free) raised the white flag inside four minutes.
However, Knockmore went through the gears in explosive fashion on seven minutes when a sweeping move from one end of the field to the other saw Aidan Kilcoyne burst through and bury a fine goal past a hapless Cathal Carey.
Ollie Munnelly’s lads refused to panic though and were dominating around the middle where Pat Coyle had been deployed from the outset. Three points on the trot from John Reilly, Lindsay and an Ed Barrett free gave Kiltane a two point lead on 18 minutes.
However, Knockmore responded again to equalise through Kilcoyne (free) and Stephen Sweeney before Kiltane dominated the closing stages of the half, putting over four points on the trot through three Shane Lindsay frees and an Ed Barrett score out from wide on the left.
A superb Aidan Kilcoyne free for Knockmore late in injury-time left Kiltane up by 0-9 to 1-3 at the break.
Knockmore’s expected second half comeback got under way with an early second half point from Kilcoyne but they were dealt a severe blow when the inspirational Trevor Howley was forced off with a knee injury, picked up when tussling for a breaking ball around the middle.
Another fine point from Kilcoyne narrowed the gap to one before Kiltane, on a rare second half attack, scored their crucial second half goal on 43 minutes. John Reilly punted a free from the midfield area in around a crowded Knockmore penalty area and Mikie Sweeney nipped in to palm the ball past a hesitant Niall Canavan.
Crucially, Kiltane followed up their goal with two more points from another Barrett free and a fine effort from the ever dangerous Corrigan to stretch ahead by six points.
Knockmore then rallied with three Damien Munnelly frees and Gerry Higgins also scored to leave two between them on 54 minutes.
However, Kiltane continued to win a lot of the breaking ball around the middle and a long delivery from Pat Coyle inside to Corrigan saw the corner forward dummy beautifully inside Jarlath O’Hora before fisting over the bar to make the margin three again with as many minutes remaining.
Substitute Brian Timlin cut the margin to two on the stroke of full-time before a succession of Kiltane injuries saw a mammoth eight minutes of added-time played.
Knockmore tried hard to set up a goalscoring chance but their only real opportunity came with the last attack of the game when Aidan Kilcoyne was fouled 21 yards out.
The visitors appeared to be told that the free was the last kick of the game, and veteran Declan Sweeney was summoned up from centre-back to take the free. 
All 14 outfield Kiltane players lined-up beside Cathal Carey on the line and when Sweeney’s shot was successfully blocked, Charlie Collins blew his full-time whistle.
Cue a pitch invasion as the celebrations began in earnest.

Kiltane
C Carey; R Carey, P Deane, S Sweeney; M Gallagher, PJ Gaughan, R Corrigan; S Gaughan, J Reilly (0-1); S Lindsay (0-5, 4fs), E Barrett (0-3, 2fs), J Healy; U Corrigan (0-2), M Sweeney (1-1), P Coyle.

Knockmore
N Canavan; J Clarke, S McHale, J O’Hora; K McLoughlin, D Sweeney; T Howley; G Higgins (0-2), S Sweeney; C Reape, B Ruttledge, A Stadler; D Munnelly (0-3, 3fs), J Brogan, A Kilcoyne (1-4, 3fs).
Subs used: K Langan for Howley; D Walsh for Reape; K Ruttledge for Stadler; B Timlin (0-1) for B Ruttledge.

Referee: C Collins (Lacken)