Loughmore/Castleiney ease past Aherlow Gaels

FBD Insurance Senior Football Championship - Round 3

Loughmore Castleiney 3-15

Aherlow 2-9

By Charlie Evans

Loughmore Castleiney sent Aherlow Gaels to the relegation series as the county champions secured a nine point win in the final FBD Insurance county senior football group stage match.

The West side needed to win and hope the other result went their way to progress to the knockout stage but they performed well below the required standard.

Ciaran McGrath scored two goals with the men in green and red having ten different scorers across a game they won with ease.

Liam Carew opened the scoring for the underdogs but from there on in Loughmore Castleiney imposed their superiority on the match.

Conor McGrath equalised before Lorcan Egan scored the first goal of the evening. His support runs from defence caused Aherlow trouble throughout and he collected a pass from Ciaran McGrath to fire past goalkeeper Jack Whelton.

Loughmore’s kick passing was notable and effective in the first half as they looked to find their forwards with fast balls inside which caused the Aherlow defence many problems.

Aidan McGrath played a lovely hand pass into Tomas McGrath and his powerful effort went straight over, followed by a John Ryan point and another goal.

Brian McGrath fed Cian Hennessy and he moved the ball on to Ciaran McGrath and shot into the net for Loughmore’s second goal.

Conor McGrath fisted over the bar when one-on-one with Whelton which meant Loughmore had scored 2-4 without reply.
It could have been more too - players had opted to go for goal instead of points. The attackers were scoring heavily and the

Loughmore defence was on top as well. Aherlow were either forced up the centre of the pitch and turned over, or shot from tricky positions that went wide or goalkeeper Shane Hennessy caught.

Thomas Hanley was their main source of scores, getting two points from a mark and a free to reduce the deficit.
Loughmore increased their lead before half time with points from Cian Hennessy and Aidan McGrath and his brother Ciaran added a third goal - and his second - in the last act of the half.

Aherlow needed a strong start to overturn a 12 point lead and they came out after the break with a much higher intensity that saw their best spell of the match.

Hanley scored 1-2 in the opening five minutes of the second half but seven points was the closest Aherlow would get to Loughmore.

The Mid side ended any thoughts of a comeback by rattling of five points in a row courtesy of Conor Ryan (2), Aidan McGrath, John Ryan and Brian McGrath.

Laurence Coskeran and Darren Neville raised two white flags for Aherlow which were cancelled out by Noel McGrath, whose shot almost resulted in another goal, and Cian Hennessy.

Neville won a free in an advanced area and, with Loughmore sleeping, he quickly kicked into Hanley and Tadhg Carew was unmarked to score a consolation goal.

Hanley scored another two points and John Ryan and Tomas McGrath, who finished a lovely move, finished the match with a flourish for Loughmore Castleiney.

Passage to the last eight was already secured for Loughmore Castleiney and they made lightwork of their opposition. Another big win to go with the Moycarkey drubbing shows why they are always one of the favourites for the O’Dwyer Cup. Brian McGrath, Lorcan Egan, Ciaran McGrath and John Ryan stood out for them.

Mark Russell's absence through injury in the three matches has been damaging to Aherlow. Despite the best efforts of Thomas Hanley, they must regroup to avoid relegation and keep their senior status.

Loughmore/Castleiney: Shane Hennessy; Lorcan Egan (1-0), Joey Hennessy, Aidan McGrath (0-2); John Ryan (0-3), Sean O’Connell, Tommy Maher; Brian McGrath (0-1), Noel McGrath (0-1); Liam McGrath, Cian Hennessy (0-2), Tomas McGrath (0-2); Conor Ryan (0-2, 1f), Ciaran McGrath (2-0), Conor McGrath (0-2).

Aherlow Gaels: Jack Whelton; Cathal Dillon, Darren Neville (0-1), Ed O’Meara; Laurence Coskeran (0-1), Sean Mullins, Stephen Moloney; Tadhg Carew (1-0), Thomas O’Donoghue; Darragh O’Brien, Liam Carew (0-1), Raymond Hennessy; Niall O’Shea, Shane Russell, Thomas Hanley (1-6, 0-2f, 0-1 mark)

Subs: Jack O’Halloran, Gary Quirke.

Referee: Donie Horan