Kilbrittain 7-13 Kinsale 3-03

Sunday March 15th - Rebel Óg Minor Hurling League

For all images from the match see Match Photos here On Sunday March 15th Kilbrittain's minors opened their hurling league, playing host to neighbours Kinsale. It was Kinsale who launched the first meaningful attack in the opening minutes. Perhaps they unaccounted for the strong southwesterly wind blowing up from the village end, but they let fly from midfield looking to aim for a point. The strong gusts held it short and it fell upon the square to the

vigilant Darragh Crowley in goal, who batted it to safety. Kilbrittain then took over the reins for the remainder of the half. 

Top goalscorer of the day with four goals, Ronan Sheehy races away from his mark.

Within the first seven minutes Kilbrittain were up two goals. The first was clinically executed by Ronan Sheehy, smacking the ball into the right hand corner and the second from Daithí O'Donovan, who launched a ball from midfield which faithfully dropped behind the goalkeeper into the net. The following seven minutes saw the black and amber make more use of the wind, with Odhrán Madden next to point over, followed by a free from Brian Kelleher. The freetaker kept it smart in the boisterous gale, with a low ball, rifled through the uprights. Sheehy followed with an excellent point from an angle 50meters out which he let fly like an arrow as he ran along the sideline. Cillian Madden added a neat point of his own to close out the first quarter 2-04 nil. 

Then Kinsale got lucky with their own drop goal, lobbed in from 50meters out too but Kilbrittain didn't let it affect them and they drove on. Off the back of an unfullfilled but decent break, orchestrated by Diarmuid O'Donoghue at centerback and driven through O'Donovan and Sheehy, the ball found itself in a ruck from which O'Donovan salvaged the ball. He offloaded to Sheehy who dutifully pointed through the uprights. Then Cathal Callaghan followed with Kilbrittain's 6th point of the day, before Sheehy was up again for another goal and a super finish, making it 3-06 to 1-0. 

Cathal Callaghan moves to strike, early in the first half. Kilbrittain's Shaye Ustianowski and Adam Desmond were busy finding a lot of ball coming their way and were doing well to keep the ball in Kilbrittain's possession. Another lad, busy at cornerback, was Tom Hogan or 'Togie' as they call him, not to be confused with his older brother, Conor Hogan or 'Hogie', who plays down the opposite end for the adult team, most often at corner forward, as many will already have come to know. Indeed Shaye Ustianowski also wears the 'Shusti' cap while his older brothers Fionn and Conor, take the 'Fusti' and original 'Usti' nicknames, respectively. But back to the match; Kinsale were struggling to get traction but were marking Kilbrittain tightly when they were pulled for a foul and Kelleher stepped up to point the free over. Sheehy followed with another soaring point. He was on hand minutes later to catch the ball around midfield, after Kelleher, to the right, spotted him running unmarked. Sheehy ran the ball to Odhrán Madden who finished in style with another goal to press Kilbrittain further into the lead, 4-08 to 1-0. With a few minutes left in the first half, midfielder James O Mahony let fly a powerful ball from the half forward line for his first point and Kelleher added another free. Then Sheehy struck another long range point to round out the first half, 4-11 to 1-0. HALFTIME: Kilbrittain 4-11 to Kinsale 1-0

Kinsale retaliated in the second half and worked together some strong passages of play aided by the wind. They pointed over first upon the resumption with a free a minute in. Then Sheehy was on hand to secure his goal hat-trick four minutes later, having the better of his mark and blasting past the goalkeeper. Another free from Kelleher saw Kilbrittain extend their lead but Kinsale were not going to go down without a fight. Down a few players from their usual roster, they did the best of what they could from it. Over the next 15 minutes they made a big push, challenging multiple times. A few point-efforts veered wide with the strong wind and as often as they could they raced intently at goal. One passage of play saw them motor from the half back line and drive forward as a unit making it to the square where they pulled a good save off Crowley in goal. Then at the 46th minute mark they managed to secure their second point of the game before making good on a free to make it 5-12 to 1-03.

Gaolkeeper Darragh Crowley launches a big puck out against the wind on Saturday. Kilbrittain however were about to push again and with minutes left, Kelleher raced in toward goal, laying it off to Sheehy who made good on a run himself, tapping it into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the morning. Callaghan struck well against the wind moments later to add Kilbrittain's last point to the scoreline. It wasn't to be the final score for the home side though. Kilbrittain's seventh goal came via a confident run from Kelleher who raced through the forward line to strike past the goalkeeper. To Kinsale's credit, as the clock ticked down they fought harder, pressuring the back line as a group and adding one goal then another before the referee called time on the match, 7-13 to 3-03.

Kinsale's minors are set to face Cill Mochomog on Sunday March 29th while Kilbrittain's minors are set to face Bandon next, on Friday April 10th at 6.30pm in Kilbrittain. Scorers: R.Sheehy 4-04, B.Kelleher 1-04 (4F), O.Madden 1-01, D.O'Donovan 1-00, C.Callaghan 0-02 C.Madden 0-01 J.O'Mahony 0-01. Team: Darragh Crowley, Manus Coughlan, Adam Desmond (C), Tom Hogan, Cillian Cronin, Diarmuid O'Donoghue, Niall Egan, James O'Mahony, Shaye Ustianowski, Cillian Madden, Cathal Callaghan, Brian Kelleher, Odhrán Madden, Daithí O'Donovan, Ronan Sheehy, Oisín O'Regan, Jack O'Neill, Jerry O'Donovan, Rowan Piper and Paul Kingston. Referee Oisín Doyle