'Shooting boots were on' - Cill na Martra turn heads with slick passage to Senior A final
Jason MacCarthaigh, Cill na Martra with possession in the McCarthy Insurance Group Senior A football championship semi final at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Larry Cummins
Put the shovels away, no need for digging here. The outstanding difference was in no way hidden. One side were clinical in directing the ball between the posts, the other crowd not so.
Cill na Martra took 15 shots in the first half of this Senior A semi-final. Ten were on target, including Jason Mac Cárthaigh’s boomer from out beyond the arc. The remaining five were divided into three short and two wide.
All that totted and totaled left the Gaeltacht men with a 0-10 interval tally. A tally provided by seven different boots, it should be added.
Éire Óg took 13 shots in the same opening half an hour. Only five were on target. Their three efforts from out beyond the arc sailed wide, as did the five taken from inside the 40-metre curve.
Two shots in the difference, six points the difference - 0-11 to 0-5 - on the scoreboard.
That easy-to-follow trend continued upon the change of ends. Éire Óg goalkeeper Chris Kelly would begin the half with a pair of wides from the placed-ball, Colm O’Callaghan would send wide a pair of goal opportunities late in the half. Éire Óg’s wide count finished up at 13, Cill na Martra’s finished at just three.
The vanquished men from Ovens and Farran took seven more shots than their opponents over the hour-plus. Composure and accuracy, though, were desperately, desperately lacking. Composure and accuracy Cill na Martra brought by the busload.
Forward interplay was the other chief difference screaming at you in the face.
Éire Óg didn’t have a loosely policed Seán Ó Fóirréidh and Daire Mac Lochlainn carrying energy, authority, and intent from deep. They had no Dan Ó Duinnín stitching passes and punching holes out around the arc. And they certainly had no Jason Mac Cárthaigh or Damien Ó hUrdail coming out beyond that same strip of white paint and sinking orange.
“I haven't looked at the stats yet, but I'd imagine Éire Óg had more shots on goal than we had. The wides in the first-half, they had eight or nine. That probably killed them. If things had gone a bit more for them in front of goal, it could have been a different picture. Our shooting boots were on tonight, thankfully,” said Cill na Martra manager Morgan O’Sullivan.
Cill na Martra made a statement on the opening weekend of championship when taking a point off Knocknagree. Rejoining the conversation after four weeks in championship wilderness, they made another statement on Saturday evening to move within an hour of Premier Senior fare.
Promoted from the Premier Intermediate ranks two years ago, the quarter-final appearance of last year's second-tier voyage has now been bettered by at least two steps.
It wasn’t so much the result here that was the statement and turned heads, it was the performance feeding into the four-point win. And that final difference, it should be noted, was utterly unreflective of their superiority.
Nine minutes from the end, their lead was 11 points strong. 1-17 to 0-9.
“I think the grades are so even now the way the county board has the championship structured, so if a team does go up, they are well able for that higher grade. Having said that, we were second best to Dohenys in the quarter-final last year. Thankfully this year we have stepped up another bit. It is a brilliant position to be in,” O'Sullivan continued.
“We had challenge games that fell by the wayside during our four-week break because of the weather. The team coming in from the quarter-final has momentum, but thankfully we hit the ground running, so the four weeks didn't work against us.”
Every finger is now crossed that that momentum won’t be derailed by second-half injuries to three of their most important chess pieces.
Full-back and goalscorer Tadhg Ó Corcora went to the sideline on 44 minutes clutching his shoulder, so too did midfielder Antóin Ó Cuana eight minutes later. The eight minutes of injury-time played was attributable to the lengthy stoppage for full-forward Ciarán Ó Duinnín. The motorised cart was called for to ferry him from the field.
O’Sullivan had no update immediately after full-time. They’ll need every one of them when reacquainting with the Knocknagree side they took a point off on the opening weekend to first signpost their promotion intentions.
“Since my involvement with this team, I see the work that goes on in the background, in the community, at underage. The commitment from everyone right through the club is brilliant and the support the team here get is a sign of that. These lads in there, they coach younger teams in the club so there is a right good connection through all the teams right through the club.”
The community of Cill na Martra are continuing on together to county final day.
D Ó hUrdail (0-5, 2tp); J Mac Cárthaigh (tp, 0-1 free), D Ó Duinnín (0-3 each); T Ó Corcora (1-0); S Ó Fóirréidh, S Ó Duinnín (0-2 each); D Mac Lochlainn, A Ó Cuana (0-1 each).
R O’Flynn (1-3); D Goulding (0-4, tp free, 0-2 frees); D Clifford (0-3); C McGoldrick (0-1 free), D Foley, C O’Callaghan (0-1 each).
M Ó Deasúna; D Ó Conaill, T Ó Corcora, F Ó Faoláin; C Ó Meachair, S Ó Foirréidh, D Mac Lochlainn; G Ó Goillidhe, D Ó Duinnín; E Ó Conaill, A Ó Cuana, J Mac Cárthaigh; C Ó Duinnín, S Ó Duinnin, D Ó hUrdail.
C Ó Fóirréidh for Ó Conaill (HT); C Mac Lochlainn for Ó Corcora (44, inj); A Ó Duinnín for Ó Cuana (52, inj); M Ó Duinnín for C Ó Duinnín (58, inj); A Ó hUidhir for S Ó Duinnín (65)
C Kelly; C Clifford, M Brady, D McCarthy; M Griffin, C McGoldrick, H Murphy; D Clifford, R O’Toole; R Flynn, C O’Callaghan, E O’Shea; D Foley, J Murphy, B Hurley.
M Corkery for D McCarthy, J Sheehan for J Murphy (both HT); D Goulding for Hurley (36); J Galvin for Sheehan (38, inj); D Dineen for Foley (52).
P O’Driscoll (Bride Rovers).
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