Kelly leads the way as barnstorming Athy edge their way into senior final for first time since 2015

Athy 0-17

Joe Mallon SFC semi-final

Athy edged their way into the county final as they put in their finest performance of the year so far to get past Celbridge.

Niall Kelly and Liam McGovern were the scoring stars for the victors as they chalked up 11 points between them, 10 of which came from play as they really turned the screw on the Celbridge defence.

It was around the middle where Athy laid the platform for their win, with David Hyland and Pascal Connell turning in superb displays as they constantly ran at the opposition defence and created scoring opportunities for their forwards.

Celbridge got off to the finest of starts as Kevin O’Callaghan found the onion bag inside the first three minutes. The big full-forward has been in great form for his club this year, and it was a goal that has been typical of his style of play as he claimed a high ball that was lofted in by Niall Donnelly, turned and found the back of the net with a low shot.

Athy never looked too flustered despite that early setback, and the excellent Liam McGovern got them off the mark in the fifth minute when he knocked over a fine opening score from distance.

David Hughes hit the target with his first free of the evening at the other end, but the Athy attack clicked into gear after that as they reeled off four points in succession to nudge their way into the lead by the midway point of the first half. A powerful run from Pascal Connell paved the way for McGovern to slot over his second of the game, before Niall Kelly opened his account with a superb effort from long range soon after.

Athy were managing to find spaces in the middle third where the likes of Connell and David Hyland could storm into, and it was their probing runs that helped to supply the ammunition for their heavy artillery up front. Kelly bombed over a huge point to level the game, and from the resultant kickout Hyland claimed possession, played a one-two with James Eaton before giving it back to the corner-forward again, and Eaton found the target from close range.

Celbridge finally responded through a free from Hughes, and the lively sharpshooter soon tagged on his first from play when Davy Byrne knocked down a long pass from O’Callaghan, allowing Hughes to level the game again.

Kelly continued his scintillating first half performance by floating over a fine point from the left wing, but his teammate McGovern was giving an even more impressive performance as he smashed over his third eye-catching score of the half.

Hughes responded for Celbridge with a close range score after Athy had lost possession with some sloppy play coming out of defence, but again McGovern pegged them back with another sumptuous score.

Niall Donnelly ensured the sides would go in level at the break when he rifled over a point on the stroke of half-time, helping Celbridge tie the game at 1-5 to 0-8 at the interval.

Athy started the second half in blistering fashion as they really grabbed control of the tie, and it was David Hyland who was driving them forward in almost every play. Alongside Connell, Hyland was winning possession and driving forward with abandon from his deep role, and it was the Kildare star who opened the scoring in the second half when he blazed through the Celbridge defence and fired over a point.

Kelly soon chalked up his fourth score of the day with another good effort, before Hyland came close finding the net after he claimed a Celbridge kickout, shovelled the ball to Connell who bulldozed his way through a couple of challenges before giving it back to Hyland who blazed it over from close range.

His younger brother Mark went close soon after when he was played through, but Shane McNamara produced a brave block on the Athy man. It was clear that Athy were finding the gaps to exploit the Celbridge defence at this stage, and when Conor Ronan cut through to kick Athy into a three point lead it was looking ominous for the men from north Kildare.

Fergal Conway settled them somewhat with a fine score, before Eaton and O’Callaghan traded points as the game entered the final quarter.

Athy kicked on once again, and two points in a row from Kelly helped them into a four-point lead.

Hughes was the main threat for Celbridge once again, and the corner-forward angled over a brilliant point to give his side some hope, but another barnstorming run and score from Connell really lifted the Athy crowd as they sensed that a county final was within touching distance once again.

Hughes and substitute Mark O’Sullivan slammed over points as the game entered its final throes, but Athy never really looked like conceding the goal it would have taken for Celbridge to turn this game on its head.

McGovern stretched the lead to three once again with Athy’s only point of the game from a placed ball, and despite Hughes land a couple of late scores from frees to narrow the gap to the minimum, Celbridge ran out of road and their challenge derailed.

Scorers for Athy: N Kelly 0-6, L McGovern 0-5(1f), J Eaton and D Hyland 0-2 each, C Ronan and P Connell 0-1 each.

Scorers for Celbridge: D Hughes 0-8(4f), K O’Callaghan 1-2, F Conway, N Donnelly and M O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Athy

Stephen Davies; Tomas Foley, Killian Mulhall, Ross Bell; Tony Gibbons, David Hyland, Sean Ronan; Pascal Connell, Kevin Feely; John Moran, Liam McGovern, Mark Hyland; James Eaton, Niall Kelly, Cian Reynolds.

Subs used: Conor Ronan for Bell 18mins, Barry Kelly for Reynolds HT, Paddy Dunne for Gibbons 53mins, Mick Foley for T Foley 62mins.

Celbridge

Shane McNamara; John Costello, Mick O’Grady, Mick Konstantin; Tony Archbold, Hugh McGrillen, Conor Plunkett; Kevin Flynn, Fergal Conway; Ollie Lyons, David Byrne, Niall Donnelly; David Hughes, Kevin O’Callaghan, Liam O’Flynn.

Subs used: Shane O’Flynn for Donnelly 44mins, Dylan Corcoran for Byrne 45mins, Darragh McEvoy for Konstantin 50mins, Mark O’Sullivan for O’Flynn 52mins.