County stars shine bright as Mount Sion stamp their class

Mount Sion 4-13 Kilmaley 0-9

Sixteen points separated the sides, a margin that fairly mirrored the difference in class between the champions of Waterford and Clare.

Kilmaley lacked nothing in commitment or endeavour, but the class of the hosts, and most tellingly the commanding displays of all their big guns, ultimately overwhelmed them.

Having laid their victory foundations in the opening half, by the end of which they had built up a decent seven point advantage, Sion proceeded to heap further misery on the Banner men after the break.

Tony Browne emerged as an undisputed man of the match at the heart of their superb defence; Ken McGrath was superb in the middle of the field and the class of Eoin Kelly was obvious in attack.

Kilmaley, despite the best efforts of Colin Lynch following his switch from attack to midfield after 20 minutes, were by now a well beaten side.

Alan Markham also continued to hurl defiantly at centre back, with the youthful Eoin Burke playing excellently on his right, but the odds were stacked against them with Sion continuing to play at their irrepressible best.

Late goals by Daniel Kelly and Sean Ryan added to the ignominy of the day for the Clare men, but these scores also graphically highlighted Sion’s clear-cut superiority over the hour.

Ironically, the early sequences suggested a semi-final that would go right down to the wire, with Kilmaley matching the winners in most areas of the pitch.

Four times inside the opening 20 minutes the sides were level, but with Browne and McGrath imposing themselves more and more, the game began to turn decisively in Sion’s favour.

With Ken McGrath mopping up everything around midfield, Kilmaley sent Lynch to the sector, but the improvement for them was, at best, marginal.

Sion had eased three points clear with quality scores from McGrath, Daniel Kelly, and the best of the day from Brian Greene, before McGrath stepped up to take a 20 metre free in the 24th minute.

His stance over the ball signalled his intentions. Seconds later the ball was in the back of the net.

Their 1-9 to 0-6 half-time lead was no less than Sion deserved, and if there was to be any Kilmaley comeback they needed early scores on the turnover.

Instead, it was the Waterford champions who garnered them.

The two Eoins, Kelly and McGrath, stretched their lead with points and although Lynch responded with one from a free for the Clare men, the floodgates were about to open.

Ken McGrath’s prodigious delivery out of his own defence was fastened onto by Eoin Kelly in the 44th minute and goalkeeper Kieran Dillon had no chance from close range.

Browne was continuing to clean out a disappointingly weak Kilmaley attack with huge back-up from all five colleagues. Indeed few teams could have stayed with Mount Sion on this particular day.

They added a further 2-2 in the closing minutes with Ken McGrath and Eoin Kelly tacking on the points and Daniel Kelly and Sean Ryan completing the rout with a goal each.

They could even afford the luxury of substituting Tony Browne and Eoin Kelly before the end, by which time Kilmaley’s dream of provincial glory was well and truly buried.

Scorers: Mount Sion: K McGrath (1-4, frees); E Kelly (1-4); S Ryan (1- 1); D Kelly (1-1); E McGrath (0-2); B Greene (0-1). Kilmaley: K Kennedy (0-3, frees); C Lynch (0-2); C Clancy (0-2); A Markham 0-1, free); D McMahon (0-1).

MOUNT SION: I O’Regan; J O’Meara, A Kirwan, K Flynn; B Flannery, T Browne, K Stafford; K McGrath, F O’Shea; E Kelly, E McGrath, D Kelly; S Ryan, B Greene, B Browne. Subs: R McGrath for B Browne; M Frisby for E McGrath; M Hoban for E Kelly; J Cleere for O’Meara; M Gaffney for T Browne.

KILMALEY: K Dillon; C Murphy, A Cahill, C McMahon; E Burke, A Markham, E Slattery; D McMahon, C Sexton; C Lynch, C Clancy, K Kennedy; C Neylon, B McMahon, B Healy. Subs: S Murphy for Slattery; S Talty for Sexton; R Kennedy for Neylon; R Pyne for Healy.

Referee: Ger Harrington (Cork).