Abbeyside always on top against battling Ferrybank
Abbeyside's Michael Kiely scoring his first goal under pressure from Ferrybank's Neil O'Sullivan. Photos: Maurice Hennebry.
There was never any prospect of a surprise result in the opening game of last Saturday’s double header in Walsh Park where newly promoted Ferrybank faced seasoned senior campaigners Abbeyside in their opening Group game. With some key players having moved on since last year’s Premier Intermediate triumph Ferrybank were always going to be up against it facing into the senior championship and so it proved against an ambitious Abbeyside team driven by the firepower of Michael O’Halloran and county star Michael Kiely in attack.
While the Abbeyside duo between them accounted for 2-16 of their side’s total it was the efforts of Ferrybank’s Mark O’Brien who caught the eye on a beaten side as he contributed 1-8 with his solo goal being a finish of real class.
Playing into the breeze in the first half Abbeyside opened the scoring with O’Halloran’s first point from a free in the 2nd minute. Ferrybank hit back with a point from Darryl Griffin before Michael Kiely weighed in with two points from play. Michael O’Brien, ploughing a lone furrow up front, showed what he is capable of given good ball as he sent over an uplifting point in the 8th minute but was narrowly wide with two other efforts from play while O’Halloran extended the Abbeyside lead with two more points from frees.
It seemed almost inevitable when Michael Kiely got in close for his first goal in the 15th minute and though O’Brien replied with a point from a free Abbeyside looked set to turn the screw as O’Halloran followed up with a brace, the second of which came from play in the 19th minute. The Abbeyside momentum was immediately stalled from the following puck out as Michael O’Brien turned his marker, raced towards goal and from some 25 metres sent a measured strike to the corner of the net that gave Lar Power no chance in the Abbeyside goal.
The Burgery men quickly regained their composure and between then and the halftime whistle extended their lead considerably, moving into a 1-14 to 1-5 lead with points from O’Halloran and Willie Beresford (2 each), Conor Prunty, Evan McInerney and Rian Walsh to two in reply from Mark O’Brien and Ruari McGarrity before Michael Kiely completed the first half scoring with his second goal, batting to the net from close range for a 2-14 to 1-5 halftime lead.
The opening minutes of the second half saw the first four points shared with Neil O’Sullivan and Mark O’Brien on target for Ferrybank and Michael O’Halloran and Michael Kiely replying for Abbeyside before Charlie Treen shot Abbeyside’s third goal in the 38th minute. Two minutes later Izaak Richards sent a speculative lobbing ball from the right wing into the Abbeyside goalmouth which somehow slipped through the outstretched hand of Lar Power and over the line for a second Ferrybank goal.
The Villagers followed up with two points from Mark O’Brien placed balls but it was only a temporary respite as Abbeyside were quickly back on track with points from O’Halloran and Maurice Power. To Ferrybank’s credit they never threw in the towel, battling on to the inevitable end and retaining the deficit at ten points before two Michael Kiely points in added time left twelve between the side’s at the final whistle.
It was a clinical performance by Abbeyside who did what was expected of them and in the absence of Neil Montgomery their big players such as Conor Prunty, Michael O’Halloran and Michael Kiely featured prominently. Ferrybank turned in a spirited performance against all the odds with Mark O’Brien receiving strong support from Neil Sullivan and Cormac Heffernan.
Michael O’Halloran 0-11(8Fs), Michael Kiely 2-5, Charlie Treen 1-0, William Beresford 0-2, Conor Prunty, Rian Walsh, Evan McInerney and Maurice Power 0-1 each.
Mark O’Brien 1-8 (0-5FS, 0-1 ‘65’), Izzak Richards 1-0, Neil O’Sullivan 0-2, Ruari McGarrity, Darryl Griffin and Robbie Carew 0-1 each.
Lar Power, Sean Whelan-Barrett, Conor Prunty, Brian Looby, James Beresford, David Collins, Evan McInerney, Maurice Power, William Beresford, Michael O’Halloran, Rian Walsh, Diarmuid Mackle, Charlie Treen, Michael Kiely, Daire Slevin.
Mark Twomey for Mackle (51), Colin Foley and Aidan Higgins for Whelan-Barrett and Slevin(55).
Cormac O’Driscoll, Ryan Tierney, Stephen O’Kane, Caolan Mac Cathmhaoil, John Ahern, Cormac Heffernan, Graham Coady, Neil O’Sullivan, Izaak Richards, Darryl Griffin, Luke Flynn, MJ Sutton, Ruari McGarrity, Mark O’Brien, Robbie Carew.
Shane Oates for Griffin (47), Naoise Mac Cathmhaoil for C. Mac Cathmhaoil (51), Damien Ahearn for Richards (56).
Killian O’Sullivan (Cappoquin)
