Kiladangan seconds down poor Burgess

GAA: FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling – Seamus O Riain Cup Group 1

Kiladangan 0-16

Burgess 0-14

Report: Shane Brophy in Nenagh

Nothing seems to be going wrong for Kiladangan at the moment as their second senior team got their O Riain Cup campaign off to a winning start after seeing off Burgess on Sunday.

It was Kiladangan’s greater efficiency which won game, despite getting off to a slow start as they fell 0-5 to 0-1 down after eleven minutes. However, after that they got to the pitch of the game and with centre back Ruairi Gleeson leading the way, they reeled in Burgess.

They were hanging on for a finish, failing to score in the last seventeen minutes of playing time, as Burgess hit the last four points, but it was still a fully deserved win for Michael Quigley’s charges who weren’t flash in what they did and in Shane Gleeson and Ciaran Kelly, had ball-winners and scorers that Burgess didn’t have.

Considering Burgess were on a par with Kiladangan’s first team as recently as the 2008 North Final, this is big blow for Sean Flynn’s charges who have now lost to both of Kiladangan’s senior teams in championship hurling this year. While they will rue eighteen wides, they didn’t play particularly well and failed to build on their positive start where the youthful Micheal Ryan and Eoin Grace were lively in the early going, as was Stephen Kirwan.

One wondered what would happen the day when Burgess would not be able to call on Stephen Murray and they got their answer. Not only did they miss his scoring threat, his ability to drift into pockets of space to take a pass was his calling-card, and without that Burgess struggled in attack. Murray came on late to score three placed balls but is clearly still struggling with a hamstring problem, and they will need him in the remaining group games to have any chance of making the knockout stages. Indeed, on this performance, they could be staring at the relegation playoffs.

In what was a disappointing game overall, Burgess set the early pace with Danny Ryan and Eoin Grace (free) on target. A Shane Gleeson 65 got Kiladangan up and running after seven minutes before Kirwan, Micheal Ryan and a second Grace free pushed Burgess four clear.

Gleeson converted two frees either side of the water-break in what was a turgid period, ended by a well-worked Donagh Maher point for Burgess on 23 minutes. However, they wouldn’t score again in the half as Kiladangan rattled off the next five points, with Paul Seymour getting their first from play on 22 minutes, with Eoghan Sharkey, Ciaran Kelly (sideline), Seymour and Gleeson (free) on target for an 0-8 to 0-6 half time lead.

Despite Eoin Hogan landing a score for Burgess, Kiladangan stayed on the front foot with Shane Gleeson adding three points (2 frees) to open a four point lead.

Donagh Maher injected life into Burgess upfield and he scored his second from play, with sub Conor Gill also getting on the scoresheet but Kiladangan were still relatively comfortable with Shane Gleeson landing a monster free before the increasingly prominent Ciaran Kelly landed two points from play, added to another from Gleeson to see Kiladangan 0-15 to 0-9 in front on 49 minutes.

Burgess were toothless in attack and sent Stephen Murray into the fray and while he wasn’t one hundred percent fit, his presence seemed to galvanise his teammates as he and Shane Maher pointed to eat into the Kiladangan lead.

Shane Gleeson scored Kiladangan’s sixteenth and final score on fifty minutes as Murray added a free and a 65 and when Keith Nealon pointed from play in 55 minutes, the margin was down to three.

By this stage, Kiladangan captain Matthew Cleary had been sent off for retaliating on Johnny Mulqueen, but Kiladangan showed great resilience in the time that remained, including seven minutes of injury time, conceding just one further score to record a deeply satisfying victory.

Player of the Match: Ruairi Gleeson (Kiladangan)

Kiladangan: Darragh Egan (7); Darragh Ryan (7), Martin Minehan (7), John O’Meara (7); Ronan Ducie (7), Ruairi Gleeson (8), Conor Culhane 6); Johnny Horan (8), Darragh Butler (6); Matthew Cleary (5), Eoin Kelly (6), Eoghan Sharkey (0-1, 6); Shane Gleeson (0-10, 8f, 1 65) 8), Ciaran Kelly (0-3, 1 s-cut) 8), Paul Seymour (0-2, 7).

Subs: Eoin Meagher (6) for Seymour (48); Stephen James Gleeson (6) for E Kelly (56 inj); DJ McGrath (NR) for Sharkey (60+1).

Burgess: Ronan Tucker (6); Daire Hogan (7), Pat Woods (6), Willie Ryan (6); Johnny Mulqueen (7), Donagh Maher (0-2, 8), Kieran Ryan (6); Keith Nealon (0-1, 7), Tadhg O’Halloran (7); Jack O’Keeffe (6), Danny Ryan (0-1, 6), Stephen Kirwan (0-1, 6); Micheal Ryan (0-1, 7), Eoin Grace (0-2f, 7), Eoin Hogan (0-1, 6).

Subs: Shane Maher for E Hogan (4-7 blood); Shane Maher (0-1, 7) for O’Keeffe (39); Conor Gill (0-1, 7) for D Ryan (40 inj); Stephen Murray (0-3, 2f, 165) 7) for Kirwan (47); Brian Tucker (NR) for D Hogan (60+6 inj).

Referee: Philip Kelly (Ballinahinch).