IHC final replay: Kildalkey treble triumph
October 23, 2023
Kildalkey's Cian Colhoun with Jack Flynn O'Mahonys during the Meath IHC final at Pairc Tailteann
Kildalkey wrapped up a treble of adult hurling championship successes with a decisive win over Navan O'Mahonys in the IHC final replay on Sunday at Pairc Tailteann. PHOTOS
Kildalkey ............. 1-18
O'Mahonys .............1-10
Kildalkey added the IHC - with their second team - to the JHC and SHC won recently
Favourites rarely baulk at second chances and from the off Nick Fitzgerald's experienced squad were in charge here.
Matty Cully - whose last gasp pointed 65 earned Kildalkey a replay - set the tone here with a trio of early points, from a 65, a free and one from play.
They never looked back while Pat Nolan's men were unable replicate the intensity they brought to the drawn encounter
Ross Flynn's seventh minute goal doubled Kildalkey's advantage and tightened their grip on the Mick Leonard Cup.
Evan Cully's point got O'Mahonys off the mark but Kildalkey were comfortably able to issue a positive response. Flynn brought his tally to 1-3 by half-time.
Three pointed Cormac Keyes frees trimmed the deficit slightly but couldn't prevent Kildalkey from widening the margin.
When Kildalkey's Cully closed his first half account, 10 points separated the sides. A Keyes free completed O'Mahonys' first half total leaving the Brews Hill side trailing by 0-5 to 1-11 at the break.
Playing towards the hospital end on a still, sunny afternoon, O'Mahonys outscored Kildalkey by a point in the second half, 1-5 to 0-7, as Kildalkey appeared to take their collective footwear off the gas with the silverware in the bag.
From the resumption, Kildalkey didn't let up, outscoring O'Mahonys by 0-6 to 0-0 in the third quarter. Derek Doran's second point left it 1-18 to 0-5 in the 48th minute.
Kildalkey didn't have to score again while O'Mahonys used the time remaining to soften the scoreline with wing-back Darragh Connell leading the scoring charge.
Connell fired a 55th minute 20-metre free to the Kildalkey net . He went on to land a 65 and a free to finish the game with 1-4.
If the game were closer there might have been some controversy at the end. During the second half referee Owen Ganly notified the officials on the stand sideline that the scoreline on the scoreboard was incorrect and that two additional points were credited to Kildalkey..
However, according to their statistics, journalists covering the game agreed with the scoreline before it was altered. Fortunately, it had no bearing on the outcome or on Kildalkey's historic achievement.
Scorers: Kildalkey - Matty Cully 0-9 (6fs, 1 65); Ross Flynn 1-3; Podge Geoghegan 0-2; Derek Doran 0-2; Ryan Byas 0-1; Luke Rickard 0-1
O'Mahonys - Darragh Connell 1-4 (1-0f, 0-1f, 0-1 65);. Cormac Keyes 0-3 (fs); Jack Walsh 0-2; Evan Cully 0-1;
Kildalkey - Colm Barry; Shane Reilly (c), Enda Fitzgerald, Tiernan Bird; Cian Colhoun, Mairtin Doran, Matt Rickard; Kelvin Lynch, Ryan Byas; Luke Rickard, Derek Doran, Ross Flynn; Matty Cully, Maurice Keogh, Podge Geoghegan.Subs - Sean Heavey for Keogh (ht), Enda Keogh for Fitzgerald (42), Ben Rickard for Flynn (53), Will Power for D Doran (60).
O'Mahonys - John Foley; Jack McConnell, Ben McEntaggart, Finn McNally; Darragh Connell, Jack Walsh (jc), Mark Usher; Evan Cully, Evan Brady; Conor O'Dwyer, Dermot McKenna, Cormac Keyes (jc); Sean McDermott, Shane McCarthy, Jack Flynn. Subs - Paddy Skehan for Brady (bs 2-3), Paddy Dillon for McKenna (40), Finn Malone for McDermott (40), Thomas Cully for O'Dwyer (48), Andrew Snow for McNally (53).
Referee - Owen Ganly (Trim)
