Clane put five goals past Allenwood to progress into Kildare SFC knockouts

Clane 5-12

Allenwood 1-14

Clane secured a place in the knockouts with a win over Allenwood in their Group C Round Two meeting in the Kildare SFC.

It was a chaotic opening half from the off and Clane got the first of their four first half goals from Oisin Tighe after just 39 seconds of play.

Brian McLoughlin slipped the ball across to the corner-forward whose slapped effort danced across the goal line before crossing it.

Three points in as many minutes then doubled their advantage with Tadhg Montgomery, Sean Tighe, and McLoughlin raising white flags.

Allenwood got their first through a Cormac Denagher free, which was followed by Clane’s second green flag just a minute later.

McLoughlin was again the provider when he offloaded to Adam Fanning and the wing-forward blasted his effort past Luke Anderson and into the roof of the net.

At the 10-minute mark of this game, the score lay at 2-4 to 0-2.

Sam McCormack grabbed Clane’s third goal when he latched onto the rebound of his own blocked shot to find the back of the net.

An Eoin Bagnall free and a point at either end from each side’s number 12 made this game 3-5 to 0-4 after 15 minutes.

Clane’s fourth goal came in just the 16th minute of this game when Sean Dunne’s effort at the posts dropped down off the upright and into the arms of Shane O’Sullivan. The wing-forward had his effort blocked which then fell to Brian McLoughlin who added to his excellent first half display with a goal.

A McLoughlin free in the 20th minute, which would be Clane’s last score of the half, preceded Allenwood’s first goal when Clane fell asleep and allowed Johnny Byrne to find Jamie Gartland in all kinds of space. Gartland rounded the ‘keeper and finished into an empty net to make this game 4-6 to 1-4.

Allenwood added three more points before the break to narrow the margin to eight points at 4-6 to 1-7.

The trailing side got the first point after the restart too when Cormac Denagher knocked over a close-range free.

Clane responded with a free of their own for their first point in 12 minutes of play.

The leading side then hit 1-3 without reply which settled any potential nerves surrounding a reduction in their rate of scoring. 

A Brian McLoughlin point was followed by Sam McCormack’s second goal of the game after he played a simple one-two off Adam Fitzpatrick and fired home. The scoring burst concluded with a superb two pointer from Killian O’Sullivan.

The sides were level pegging for the remainder of this game with the teams satisfied with and resigned to their respective fates.

Allenwood hit the game’s last three points as they finished 5-12 to 1-14 short of Clane.

Clane, Brian McLoughlin 1-5 (0-2 frees), Sam McCormack 2-0, Adan Fanning 1-1, Oisin Tighe 1-0, Killian O'Sullivan 0-3 (one 2pt), Sean Tighe 0-1, Tadhg Montgomery 0-1, Shane O'Sullivan 0-1 (0-1 frees).

Allenwood, Eoin Bagnall 0-6 (0-5 frees), Cormac Denagher 0-4 (0-4 frees), Jamie Gartland 1-0, James Moore 0-2, Alex Lenehan 0-1, Joey Cunningham 0-1.

CLANE: Cian Burke; Sean Dunne, Sean Callan, Hugh Prendergast; James Dillon, Tadhg Montgomery, Cian Shanahan; Sam McCormack, Killian O'Sullivan; Shane O'Sullivan, Brian McLoughlin, Adam Fanning; Sean Tighe, Adam Fitzpatrick, Oisin Tighe. Subs: James Behan for Adam Fitzpatrick (50 minutes), Daniel Colbert for Killian O'Sullivan (50 minutes), Calum Dunne for Sean Dunne (55 minutes), Eoin Walsh for James Donlon (58 minutes), Cormac Vizzard for Brian McLoughlin (60 minutes).

ALLENWOOD: Luke Anderson; Brendan Hanafey, Sean Moran, Cillian Moran; Jamie Gartland, Ronan Guilfoyle, Fionn Moran; Alex Lenehan, Eanna O'Neill; Gavin Malone, Johnny Byrne, Cormac Denagher; Sean Dunne, Eoin Bagnall, Joey Cunningham. Subs: Billy Maher for Sean Dunne (35 minutes), Rory Moran for Eanna O'Neill (45 minutes), James Moore for Gavin Malone (45 minutes), Mark Delaney for Jamie Gartland (57 minutes).

Referee: Damien Whelan

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