Intermediate Hurling Championship, Group B2, Round 1
FT Trim 2-10; Kildalkey 1-11
A pulsating match was played out between near neighbours Trim and Kildalkey in this Intermediate Hurling Championship at Longwood, with the town side edging it in a frantic finish.
Kildalkey were quickly out of the blocks with an early Martin Browne point. They doubled their advantage with a Martin Healy effort before Trim got into their scoring stride. A James Murray pointed free was followed by an Arnie McGee opportunist goal following a David Murtagh free.
Kildalkey will regret some wayward shooting but Evan Fitzgerald did have two pointed frees on either side of a brilliant solo effort from Trim’s man of the match James Murray. Scores were hard to come by with some stout defending from each side and an equally tight battle in mid-field. A Peter Farrell goal in the seventeenth minute followed by a pointed free from James Murray edged Trim further ahead. A splendid instinctive save from ‘keeper Calum Buckley maintained Trim’s advantage but further points from Evan Fitzgerald and Martin Healy kept Kildalkey in touch.
Trim’s sharpshooter, James Murray finished out the half’s scoring with another pointed free in the thirty second minute.
Half Time: Trim 2-4; Kildalkey 0-6
An early Ross Flynn pointed free for Kildalkey reduced the arrears and we had to wait a further seven minutes for the next score which, inevitably, came from a James Murray pointed free for the town side.
A further point for Kildalkey signalled somewhat of a purple patch for Trim with pointed efforts from James Murray (f), Andy Dinan, following splendid work by Arnie Mc Gee, and David Murtagh. Again, there were a number of wasted efforts by Kildalkey before Evan Fitzgerald found his accuracy, but Trim’s James Murray converted another pointed free to leave his side comfortably in front 2-9 to 0-9 with seven minutes remaining.
The Kildalkey response was immediate and following an opportunist goal, a Ben Rickard point reduced the deficit totwo and a frantic finale was assured. A brilliant catch and hit from James Murray settled the Trim nerves but there was no time for complacency as Kildalkey pressed for a late latewinner.
The Trim defence was immense during those dying minutes, as it had been throughout, with sterling performances from Colm McGrath, Luke Moran, Cian Lee, and Darragh Kennedy. And when Ben Rickard burst through his shot seemed destined for the Trim net only to be deflected over the bar by an ever vigilant Calum Buckley.
The additional time of seven minutes saw no further scoring and Trim held on for a deserved victory against a somewhat luckless Kildalkey side.
This was a splendid, sporting but tough, contest between two sides either of whom could have a big say in the final destination of this year’s championship.
Full Time;
Trim 2-10; Kildalkey 1-11
Trim: Calum Buckley, Darragh Kennedy, Colm McGrath, Cian Walsh, Cian Lee, Luke Moran, Jack Cotterell, Ciaran O’Rourke, David Murtagh, (0-1) Kevin Lennon, James Murray, (0-8) (6f), Danny Coleman, Aaron Mc Gee, (1-0), Peter Farrell, (1-0), Conor Mc Keown.
Subs: Andrew Dinan, (0-1), Joey Toole, Stephen Doyle
Kildalkey: Paul Fagan, Ross Flynn, Enda Fitzgerald, Conor Fitzgerald, Eoin Potterton, Brian Coffey, Mark Healy, Matt Rickard, Ronan Potterton, Martin Healy, Evan Fitzgerald, Ben Rickard, Brian Conneely, Andrew Fagan, Martin Browne.
