Brilliant Ellistown shock St Laurence's in IFC prelim

Ellistown 0-18

St Laurence's 2-10

Ellistown shocked Larries to emerge victorious in their Kildare IFC Preliminary Round clash to progress to a winner's group ahead of Sunday's draw.

Ellistown got their first two points back in the Intermediate Championship through Pat Martin who fired over from outside the arc.

Larries were quick to reply with two points, although in separate instances, from TJ Nolan.

Joint captain Niall O’Connor put Larries ahead with a quick burst and confident conversion. The leading side then pushed three clear with further scores from TJ Nolan and Felix Lawlor.

Just after the 15-minute mark, Larries doubled their advantage when first half substitute Dylan O’Dwyer found the net. O’Dwyer latched onto a loose ball and punched it smartly into the net past the emerging Ellistown stopper.

Having not scored in 16 minutes, Ellistown halved the deficit right back with a brilliant two-point free from Harry Donnelly and a score from play from Evan Donnelly.

It was Harry that was next on the scoresheet again with a beautiful score as he jinked one way and then the other to create space before sailing the ball between the posts.

Ellistown then looked set to take the lead when Tadhg Watson was put through on goal but pulled his effort off the ground wide at the near post.

The trailing side were level just before the break though when Evan Donnelly hit a superb effort between the posts from outside the 40m arc.

The late double sent the sides in all square at 1-5 to 0-8 at half-time.

The first score of the second half came from Larries and TJ Nolan’s fourth point put them ahead again.

It would be their last for some time as Ellistown sent three in the other direction to lead by two with 15 minutes to go. Tadhg Watson and Harry Donnelly frees were followed by a Callum Donnelly point for Ellistown to lead 0-11 to 1-6.

Dylan O’Dwyer pulled the margin back to one with a free but Ellistown responded brilliantly once again.

Harry Donnelly knocked over another exceptional two-point free, which was quickly followed by a point from full-back Max Lennox to make this game 0-14 to 1-7.

Harry Donnelly continued his astounding kick with back-to-back two-point frees to push Ellistown eight clear with three minutes to go.

Larries did respond with a goal and a point from Eoghan Glancy, which was followed by another from TJ Nolan, but the damage had been done by Donnelly.

Ellistown finished as 0-18 to 2-10 winners and the Junior champions booked a winner’s group spot in brilliant style.

Ellistown, Harry Donnelly 0-10 (0-9 frees, four 2pt frees), Evan Donnelly 0-3 (one 2pt), Pat Martin 0-2 (one 2pt), Tadhg Watson 0-1 (0-1 frees), Callum Donnelly 0-1, Max Lennox 0-1.

St Laurence's, TJ Nolan 0-6 (one 2pt), Eoghan Glancy 1-1, Dylan O'Dwyer 1-1 (0-1 frees), Niall O'Connor 0-1, Felix Lawlor 0-1 (0-1 frees).

ELLISTOWN: Oran Donnelly; Sean Lindy, Max Lennox, James Neilson; Oisin Molloy, Darragh Watson, Pat Martin; Conor Lindy, James Sutton; Leo Lennox, Conor O'Loughlin, Andrew McLoughlin; Tadhg Watson, Evan Donnelly, Harry Donnelly. Subs: Ciaran Lindy for Andrew McLoughlin (37 minutes), Callum Donnelly for Conor O'Loughlin (40 minutes), Kevin Martin for Sean Lindy (46 minutes), Darren Kelly for Evan Donnelly (56 minutes).

ST LAURENCE'S: Paul Clynch; James Donnelly, Ciaran O' Sullivan, Niall Clynch; Oisin Grufferty, Kevin Eustace, Niall O' Connor; Mark Glynn, David O Driscoll; Senan Murphy, Ruaidhri Lawlor, Tj Nolan; Stephen Mann, Felix Lawlor, Chris Fenner. Subs: Dylan Dwyer for Chris Fenner (6 minutes), Joe Hanamy for Stephen Mann (44 minutes), Tom Dooley for Felix Lawlor (57 minutes), Eoghan Glancy for David O'Driscoll (57 minutes).

Referee: Raymond Kelly

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