Athy hit five goals for victory, but Allenwood finish the season swinging

Athy 5-10

Allenwood 1-13

Eventual winners Athy made a bright start to this game with a superb point from John Moran. The corner-forward finished his driving run with a brilliant curling effort.

Moran’s moment of quality after two minutes would be the game’s last for another 10 or so minutes. The subsequent period of sloppy kick-passing and exchanging of possession left a lot to be desired.

John Doyle restored parity with a vintage fake-to-shoot to earn space before knocking over an excellent point. It would be Allenwood’s last of the half.

Niall Kelly restored Athy’s lead with a free while Barry Kelly was drawing all the attention from the Allenwood backline.

John Moran extended the gap to two with another fine score in the 14th minute. However, once again after a lovely Moran score, there was another near 10-minute gap before the game’s next score.

Just as media personnel began to question the contents of their forthcoming reports, Athy hit the net.

Colm Moran drove down the side of the Allenwood defence and got his head up to find Ben Purcell with a looping handpass. All the Athy full-forward had to do was slap the ball into the net, and he did so with little fuss.

Athy added points through Ryan Bowden and Colm Moran before the break. They went in at half-time with a comfortable 1-5 to 0-1 lead.

It was hard to believe that at one stage in the first half things were so low key. This game ignited after the break and Allenwood hit excellent five points without reply to bring themselves within two of their opponents. 

The pick of the bunch came from John Doyle and Eoin Bagnall off their respective weaker side’s.

The resurgence, while thrilling, was short lived as Athy’s slowly drifting performance turned into an assault on the Allenwood net.

Athy hit three goals in seven minutes to kill the Allenwood comeback. The first from James Eaton was harsh punishment for the trailing side coughing up possession at the back.

The second came from dangerman John Moran who produced a superb left-footed finish into the bottom.

The third and final green flag raised in the blitz was created from a sharp one-two between Ben Purcell and Colm Moran, with the latter feigning to shoot to the far post before smashing the ball into the net at the near.

Allenwood then got a goal of their own through Mark Byrne. The advancing wing-back drilled a superb effort past James Roycroft to make the game 4-7 to 1-9 in the 49th minute.

No more than a minute later and Athy had their fifth and final goal.

Conor Doyle was the man to get it and the early second half substitute did it in fine style too when he smashed his effort home from outside the box.

After a dour first half, these teams more than put on a show in the second as Athy finished up 5-10 to 1-13 winners.

Scorers: Athy, John Moran 1-4, James Eaton 1-1, Colm Moran 1-1, Ben Purcell 1-0, Conor Doyle 1-0, Niall Kelly 0-1 (0-1 frees), Ryan Bowden 0-1, Liam McGovern 0-1 (0-1 frees), Cian Keaveney 0-1.

Allenwood, Eoin Bagnall 0-6 (0-3 frees, 0-1 mark), Mark Byrne 1-1, John Doyle 0-3 (0-1 frees), Johnny Byrne 0-2, Cormac Denagher 0-1.

ATHY: James Roycroft; Michael Spillane, Cathal McCarron, Darren Lawler; James McGrath, Padraic Spillane, Brian Maher; Ryan Bowden, Pascal Connell; Barry Kelly, James Eaton, Colm Moran; Niall Kelly, Ben Purcell, John Moran. Subs: Conor Doyle for Ryan Bowden (35 minutes), Liam McGovern for Barry Kelly (46 minutes), Cian Keaveney for Ben Purcell (50 minutes), Sean Bride for Pascal Connell (50 minutes).

ALLENWOOD: Luke Anderson; Fionn Moran, Sean Moran, Cillian Moran; Mark Byrne, Ronan Guilfoyle, Mark Delaney; John Doyle, Rory Moran; Cormac Denagher, Johnny Byrne, Arron Dunne; Brendan Hanafey, Eoin Bagnall, Joey Cunningham. Subs: James Moore for Arron Dunne (24 minutes), Alex Lenehan for Brendan Hanafey (46 minutes), Billy Maher for John Doyle (46 minutes), Gavin Malone for Mark Delaney (46 minutes), Colm Moran for Cormac Denagher (47 minutes), Eanna O'Neill for Fionn Moran (54 minutes).

Referee: Ken Doyle