Trim, buoyed up by a recent League defeat at the hands of Sunday’s opponents, were in no mood for a repeat performance and ran out emphatic winners of this Championship encounter, played in Dunganny, under the watchful eye of referee Bernard Heaney.

Kildalkey, however, were setting the early pace with a lightning opening score from Luke Rickard, in the first few seconds. This was followed by a further goal and two points, in the first seven minutes, to a single Trim point from Kyle Ennis.

A fine combination of play between Mikey Cole and David Murtagh ended with an Alan Douglas point to steady the ship, but Paddy Potterton stretched Kildalkey’s advantage once again, while making use of a significant wind advantage in that opening half. Further Trim scores from Kyle Ennis, from an almost impossible angle, and Alan Douglas, were again cancelled out by Kildalkey. One of those came from Paddy Conneely, who had played a significant part in that previous League encounter, but, on this occasion, this proved to be his only contribution to the scoreline as he was ably marshalled by Trim corner back Danny Coleman for the rest of the encounter.

A fine Trim spell, with three unanswered points from James Murray, 2f, and Mikey Cole reduced the deficit to two points by the eighteenth minute. Kildalkey, however, were having their purple patch in which they outscored their opponents by one goal and five points to a single James Murray effort and they now had a commanding nine point advantage with a mere five minutes remaining on the clock.

One significant moment in those closing minutes was a fine save by Trim net minder Eoin O’Reilly from a Gary Kelly effort and that moment was to signal a significant turnaround from which Kildalkey never recovered. It was very clear that Kildalkey had put in a huge effort in that opening period and there was a feeling that if Trim could add another score or two before the half time whistle that it would give them that extra impetus for the second half. Well that they did in spades with late points from Mikey Cole, Kyle Ennis, and James Murray, and a sublime David Murtagh goal following a fine movement by James Murray.   

An early second half point by Nicky Potterton was cancelled out almost immediately by a James Murray effort and soon after it was lights out for Kildalkey. A goal and two points in two minutes from Mikey Cole followed and, suddenly, Trim were ahead by two points. Mikey Cole was on fire and having assisted James Murray, with the next Trim score, added a further brace before brother Joey got himself on the scoreboard.

A brace of frees from James Murray pushed Trim’s advantage out to eight points, by the twenty second minute, before Kildalkey had only their second score from a Nicky Potterton free. Another Trim goal followed, this time from Kyle Ennis ably assisted by the stupendous Mikey Cole, who, as well as brother Joey, added further Trim points. It was fitting that the last hurrah fell to Mikey Cole, who raised the final green flag, while Kyle Ennis had a late converted free to complete the scoring.

Trim’s next outing is scheduled for Saturday, 15th August against Kilmessan, with a throw in of 7pm in Dunganny.

Trim: Eoin O’Reilly, Danny Coleman, Gary Fleming, Ben Holden, Darragh Heffernan, James Toher, David Murtagh (1-0), Joey Cole (0-2), Mark Molloy, Ian Birmingham, James Murray (0-8, 5f), George Douglas, Kyle Ennis (1-4, 1f), Alan Douglas (0-2), Mikey Cole (2-7).

Subs: Dylan Farrell, James Andrews, Pa Ryan, Dimmy Higgins, Padraig Walsh, Cathal O’Reilly, Ruairi McCaffrey, Adam Donohue, Caelum Casserly, Ben Gaffney, Cormac Slattery, Conor McKeown, Tadgh Foley, Conor Quigley, Eoghan Ryan.