Clinical Killeshin cut down Clonaslee in Laois GAA opener in Portlaoise

Killeshin begin their Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship journey with an easy win in Laois Hire O'Moore Park that holds promise for the south Laois club.

An impressive 14 points defeat of Clonaslee St Manman’s booked their place in the Winners section of Round 2 where they were later drawn to meet Arles-Killeen in a derby to look forward to.

Killeshin kept Clonaslee-St Manman’s scoreless for 25 minutes of the first half and scored 1-7 of their own in that time, including a great goal from Evan English, as the men in green and white held a massive 12-point lead at half-time.

Clonaslee-St Manman’s battled back in a physical second half, but Killeshin had all the answers and outscored Clonaslee 1-6 to 0-7 in the second half, with Adam Deering’s goal a particular highlight in Laois GAA HQ in Portlaoise.

Killeshin went well last year and reached the SFC quarter-finals where they came unstuck against beaten semi-finalists Graiguecullen. Clonaslee-St Manman’s, meanwhile, lost out last year in the final of the Senior ‘B’ Championship when The Heath became just the second club to get their hands on the still relatively new John Conway Cup. If Clonaslee do not improve then it will be off to the Senior ‘B’ again.

The game was the second of an SFC triple-header, with a boisterous crowd cheer on their teams. Niall Corbet opened the scoring for Clonaslee-St Manman’s but Killeshin dominated the next ten minutes and kicked five points on the bounce, including one from Mick Doran, a free each from Evan English and Evan Lowry and a two-pointer from play from goalkeeper Killian Roche. More below photo

Darragh Mulhall evades the Killeshin clutches with the ball in Portlaoise. Pic: Denis Byrne

The keeper then pointed a free before making a tremendous save to deny Cian Callaghan an early goal. Eoin Cawley pointed before English broke through to score a fine goal in the 19th minute as Killeshin moved nine points in front.
They were then reduced to 14 men for the next ten minutes after a fracas broke out between Adam Deering and DJ Callaghan, with referee Hugh Coghlan showing Deering a black card.

Cathal Lee kicked a free to give Clonaslee-St Manman’s their first score for nearly 25 minutes, but Doran cancelled that out before Lowry slotted a free. Cathal Byrne raised an orange flag then right at the end of the first half to leave Killeshin with a commanding 12-point lead, up 1-11 to 0-2 at the break.

Clonaslee-St Manman’s again struck first in the second half thanks to John Rigney, but Deering – fresh off his extended rest – replied in devastating fashion to score Killeshin’s second goal.

Clonaslee’s Bob Downey landed a lovely two-pointer with Corbet also on target. Killeshin replied with a free each from Lowry Roche, with the keeper also slotting a 45 to put his side 14-points up at the end of the third quarter.

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Downey replied with another excellent two-pointer from a difficult angle only for Deering to point again at the other end with just ten minutes of normal time remaining. Clonaslee-St Manman’s kept plugging away and kicked another point through substitute James McRedmond. Killeshin always had an answer, however, with Lowry adding a close-range free to prevent Clonaslee from building any momentum.

There was still time for one last score for Killeshin as Evan English putting the finishing touches on a superb 14-point win.

Final Score

Killeshin 2-17
Clonaslee-St Manman's 0-9

TEAMS & SCORERS below photo

SCORERS - Killeshin: Evan English 1-2 (0-1 free), Killian Roche 0-5 (two frees, one ’45, one two-pointer), Evan Lowry 0-4 (all frees), Adam Deering 1-1, Cathal Byrne (two-pointer) and Mick Doran 0-2 each, Eoin Cawley 0-1. Clonaslee-St Manman's: Bob Downey 0-4 (two two-pointers), Niall Corbet 0-2, Cathal Lee (free), John Rigney and James McRedmond 0-1 each.

KILLESHIN: Killian Roche; Eoin Brennan, Darragh McDonald, Paddy Doyle; Leeson Hughes, James Davis, Pa Fitzpatrick; Cathal Byrne, Conor Heffernan; Mick Doran, Adam Deering, Jack Milton; Evan English, Evan Lowry, Eoin Cawley. Subs: Jack Brennan for McDonald (inj, 33), Michael Gaffney for Doyle (43), David McDermott for Fitzgerald (49), Ben Fitzgerald for Cawley (53).

CLONASLEE-ST MANMAN'S: Darragh Mulhall; DJ Callaghan, Jack Owens, Dermot Conroy; Bob Downey, Ger Reilly, James Dunne; Cian Conroy, Niall Corbet; Manus Dunne, Cathal Lee, Cian Callaghan; Willy Young; John Rigney, Paddy Hyland. Subs: Josh Flynn and James McRedmond for M Dunne and Hyland (both HT), Niall Hogan for Rigney (43).

REFEREE: Hugh Coghlan (Park-Ratheniska)