Kilbride outclassed Clann na nGael in the JFC final at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday afternoon. PHOTOS

Kilbride .................. 2-17
Clann na nGael........ 1-10

The winning margin doesn't flatter Kilbride who were a class above their wasteful opponents. By the end Clann na nGael had 12 wides to the eventual winners three.

Kilbride opened on the front foot and took their early lead to the finish. At the finish there were 10 points between the sides. At the 57th minute Leo Turley's charges were 12 points ahead.

Clann na nGael had something of a scoreline softener when Daragh Swaine expertly netted a penalty kick into the town goal. Kilbride managed two of the last three scores through Adam Malone (free) and David O'Leary.

Malone was the final's top scorer with 2-2 while Conor McWeeney and David O'Leary shared 10 points. Eight different players were on the score sheet for Kilbride who previously won this title in 1960.

It was the prelude to a successful decade for Kilbride who experienced a decline in fortune from the early seventies on.

Kilbride wasted little time in building on the four-point interval advantage. Within 11 minutes of the restart, they had opened up a 10-point lead. Central to this expansion was Adam Malone's second goal built on Cathal McKeon's forward surge.

With an impressive spread of scorers Kilbride continued to put more distance between them and the Athboy-Rathcarn side. Try as they did Niall McLoughlin's made little headway. 

Kilbride appeared to have the backing of the breeze blowing into the town end and wasted little time in making it tell. Points from Zack McGovern and David O'Leary (free) got the Dublin-border side going.

They maintained that lead for the remainder of the half. In between those points Kilbride might have had a third minute goal. Team captain Ronan O'Leary led the charge with a strong solo run through the middle. A misplaced pass by a team mate saw the promising move unravel.

Two David O'Leary points (one 45) made it 0-4 to 0-2 to Kilbride. Veteran Shane McAnarney got the Athboy-Rathcairn side going on the scoreboard while a Tomas Doyle free doubled their account.

Darragh Griffin's 15th minute point cut the Clann na nGael deficit to the minimum. The team in green and yellow suffered a body blow three mintues later when Adam Malone goaled following a Conor O'Driscoll delivery. That left four points between the sides, 1-4 to 0-3.

Five points separated the side on two occasions in the second quarter. Kilbride's final score of the half was the pick of the punnet. Placed by Cathal McKeon, wing-back Andy McWeeney flighted the ball brilliantly over for a point.

For the final score of the half, Shane McAnarney did the ground work for Darragh Swaine to point and leave the board reading 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval.

Scorers: Kilbride - Adam Malone 2-2; Conor McWeeney 0-5; David O'Leary 0-5 (2fs, 1 45); Mark Dempsey 0-1; Andy McWeeney 0-1; Cathal McKeon 0-1; Zack McGovern 0-1; Jamie McWeeney 0-1.
Clann na nGael - Darragh Swaine 1-4 (1-0 pen, 0-1 f); Tomas Doyle 0-2 (2fs); Darragh Griffin 0-1;Sean Og Tiernan 0-1; Shane McAnarney 0-1; Ciaran Fitzsimons 0-1.

Kilbride - Craig Manning; Mark Dempsey, Caolan Howard, Paddy Peters; Andy McWeeney, Conor O'Driscoll, Finn White; Cathal McKeon, Timmy Farrell; Conor McWeeney, Anthony Barker, Ronan O'Leary (c); Adam Malone, Zack McGovern, David O'Leary. Subs - Jamie McWeeney for R O'Leary (ht), Cian Harford for Barker (36), Cadhla McKenna for McGovern (41), Ronan O'Leary for O'Driscoll (45), James Browne for White (58).

Clann na nGael - Eoin Griffin; Killian Swaine, Darren Kelly, Darragh O'Reilly; Tommy Hanley, Jack Doherty, Phillip Garry (c); Darragh Griffin, Cian Swaine; Josh McGrath, Darragh Swaine, Sean Og Tiernan; Shane McAnarney, Gerry O'Sullivan, Tomas Doyle. Subs - Sam Black for C Swaine (44), William Gleeson for McGrath (44), Aaron Ennis for D Griffin (49), Ciaran Fitzsimons for Doyle (49), Liam McNamara for Hanley (57),

Referee - Robert Purfield (St Patrick's)

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