McGovern points the way as Athy hold off Maynooth in first round thriller
Athy 0-21
Maynooth 2-12
Joe Mallon SFC round one
Liam McGovern landed nine points as free-scoring Athy held off a ferocious Maynooth effort to avoid a shock defeat in the opening round of the Kildare Senior Football Championship.
McGovern's haul was aided by some fine scoring contributions from Niall Kelly and Kieran Farrell as they chipped in with eight points from play between them, while the likes of Barry Kelly, Cathal McCarron and David Hyland were also superb for the victors.
Maynooth will count themselves unlucky as they played superbly throughout, but they just lacked the ability to shut out their opponents for long enough to allow the damage caused by their own potent forward line to truly take effect.
An absolute belter of a first half finished with Maynooth taking a 2-5 to 0-9 lead into the dressing room following 30 minutes of rip-roaring fare.
Athy looked so full of vigour and energy in the opening five minutes as they threatened to run away with the game, but Maynooth stormed into proceedings as they were led by the excellence of Danny O’Sullivan and the strong midfield combination of Sean Higgins and John McAndrew.
Liam McGovern, Niall Kelly and Kieran Farrell all landed scores in the opening four minutes for the south Kildare men, but Maynooth grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck when McAndrew bulldozed his way through and set up O’Sullivan to rifle the ball to the roof of the net.
The young corner-forward followed that up with a neat point from play, before Maynooth shocked their opponents again when Sean Sinclair offloaded a pass to Ruadhán O’Giolláin who drove a low shot past Steven Davis to turn the game on its head. A great point from roving centre-back Darren Maguire pushed Karl Ennis’ side into a 2-2 to 0-3 lead after just seven minutes, as Maynooth’s three minute burst left Athy reeling.
The men in red gathered themselves however, and a couple of points from Niall Kelly seemed to settle them once again. O’Sullivan and Chris Canning raised white flags at the other end for Maynooth, but Athy’s chances were further dented when they lost Kevin Feely to a calf injury in the 18th minute, which will be a worry to the watching Kildare manager Cian O’Neill.
Emmanuel Kennedy’s side outscored their opponents four point to one for the remainder of the half as Kelly scooped over a close range free and McGovern kicked two points from frees either side of a fine effort from play, while Canning offered Maynooth’s only response, though they still took a two-point lead into the break.
After an even first few minutes in the second half, it was Athy who started to exert a bit of dominance on proceedings during the third quarter. After the reliable McGovern and Sean Sinclair swapped points from frees at either end, a fantastic score from O'Sullivan sent his team three points clear, but Athy roared into the ascendancy after that.
David Hyland, who played in midfield following the injury to Feely, burst through to score an excellent point for his side, before Farrell and Kelly nudged over good scores to level the game for the first time. Farrell then pointed at the end of a fine move to send Athy into the lead, but two pointed frees from Sinclair either side of a McGovern effort at the other end left the tie level going into the final quarter.
Athy stepped on the gas after that, with McGovern angling over two close range frees before Farrell and Barry Kelly both raised white flags with exquisite efforts, and it looked like Emmanuel Kennedy's side would ease towards the finish line. Maynooth offered resistance in the form of good scores from Sean Higgins and O'Sullivan that offered them some hope, but they couldn't get close enough to their opponents however, and scores from David Hyland and Barry Kelly helped the 2011 champions press home their advantage and run out winners.
Scorers for Athy: L McGovern 0-9(7f), N Kelly 0-5(1f), K Farrell 0-4, B Kelly 0-3 and D Hyland 0-2.
Scorers for Maynooth: D O'Sullivan 1-3, S Sinclair 0-4f, R Ó'Giolláin 1-0, C Canning 0-2(1f), D Maguire and S Higgins 0-1 each.
Athy
Steven Davis; Tomás Foley, Cathal McCarron, Killian Mulhall; Ross Bell, David Hyland, Mark Hyland; Kevin Feely, Pascal Connell; Liam McGovern, Barry Kelly, Niall Kelly; James Eaton, Tadgh Foley, Kieran Farrell.
Subs used: John Moran for Tadgh Foley 14mins, Hughie Mahon for Feely 18mins, Tadgh Foley for Eaton BC 50mins.
Maynooth
Mark Donnellan; Darragh Hurley, Alan McAndrew, Niall O'Sullivan; Callum McCabe, Darren Maguire, Ben Carroll; John McAndrew, Sean Higgins; Bankole Agunsoye, Ruadhán Ó'Giolláin, Kevin Dunne; Danny O'Sullivan, Sean Sinclair, Chris Canning.
Subs used: Paul Maguire for McCabe HT, Ian Doyle for Carroll 52mins, Jonathan Flattery for McAndrew 52mins.