Stratford/Grangecon V Kilmacanogue
Match Report 28th March 2015
Kilmacanogue 3-10 Stratford/Grangecon 2-8
Stratford/Grangecon travelled to Kilmacanogue boosted with their full complement of players. The team welcomed the return of Michael Mangan and Jason Bolger to their ranks.
The prospect of getting a result from last year’s Junior A finalists held no fear, in this the second round of the Intermediate league. However, Kilmacanogue did not follow this script. Nestled on the side of the Sugar Loaf Mountain, this unique setting proved to be a fortress for the home team.
Almost from the start the distress signals started to emerge. Stratford/Grangecon squandered opportunities to establish their grip on the game and allowed Kilmacanogue safe passage to score at will. Indeed by the time Eoin O’Neill was brought to the middle of the field, we were trailing by 9 points. His presence steadied the ship and cut the deficit to 7 points by half time.
To entertain any hope of winning this game, it was critical that we had a good start to the second half. Unfortunately we were rocked by an early third goal from Kilmacanogue. The score board at this stage read 3-5 v 0-4 to Kilmacanogue. Despite this many of our lads fought valiantly to score an additional 2 goals and 4 points in the second half, however, their lack of fitness and practice was evident for all to see. Credit has to be given to Kilmacanogue for a very gutsy performance and they deserved their win.
Manager John McCormack is under no illusion of what needs to be done and what is expected of each individual player – starting with full attendance at training on Thursday night. Big changes need to be implemented before our next encounter against Knockananna next weekend.
Stratford/Grangecon:
Patrick Cronin (Capt), Adam Doyle, Eoin O’Neill, Marcus Hanbidge, David Cush, Patrick Walsh, Jordan Lawrence, Michael Mangan (1-1), Mark Landon, Shane Byrne (1-2)(pen), Jason Bolger (0-1), Matthew Manley (0-2), Mark Murphy (0-2), Kieran Byrne, Colin Byrne
Subs: James Barrett, Gerard O’Keeffe
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