The return of experienced duo David Moran and Tommy Walsh proved the inspiration for this hard earned , precious win in Gallarus played in glorious sunshine despite a strong breeze.
Both seamlessly integrated back into the squad, their influence undeniable, as we significantly raised the level of our performance from that seen to date - their presence seemed to have the desired effect on all their team mates who gained in confidence as the game unfolded.
The home side played with the strong breeze and hardly put a foot wrong in the opening quarter, racing into a 0-07 to 0-01 lead by the 12th minute with Tomás Kennedy notching our only score as he raced through the defence to fire over in the 6th minute.
An Ghaeltacht's dominance waned however as David Moran and Tom Hoare, ably assisted by Tomás Kennedy, Ben Hanafin and Jake Foley, began to make their presence felt with good scores coming from two pointed frees from Tom plus another two placed balls from Darragh O'Connor - indeed Darragh was proving to be a major thorn in their side and his overall points tally of 0-07 was testament to his overall influence.
Barry John had our first point from play since Tomás' opening effort in the 23rd minute with An Ghaeltacht replying in kind on the 26th minute; the next score, was pivotal as Conor Hayes found the bottom corner of the net to level matters; it all started with a good interception by Sam Pituch in defence who found Ben Hanafin and he made inroads into the defence before playing Conor in for the green flag.
We traded points from here to the short whistle which saw us trail by just one at the break, 0-11 to 1-07.
The omens for the second half were good with Barry John levelling matters from play and then Darragh, put us ahead for the first time with a point from play which he quickly followed up with another from a free; we went 3 up by the midway point of the 2nd half before An Ghealtacht again pulled back a score from a free.
The next score was probably the point of the match as Tomás Kennedy surged forward and wind assisted split the posts from distance.
Our defence held firm throughout this second half, defending stoutly, remaining composed without resorting to fouling - the opposition were only able to add four points in the 30+ mins played.
Ross made some important interceptions, Ben shadowed Tomás O'Sé to great effect whilst Daniel Bowler was on hand to hoover up any breaking ball. Shane McElligott in this period too made a huge contribution and played himself to a standstill.
In the end, we had a deserved win and now look forward to the visit of Glenflesk next weekend.
We would like to wish An Ghaeltacht's centre back and captain, PJ Mac Láimh the best as he recovers from an injury which forced his withdrawal.
Final score:
KO’R 1-16
An Ghaeltacht 0-15
Team: Rob O'Connor, Sam Pituch, Ross O'Callaghan, TJ Heaphy, Ben Hanafin, Jake Foley, Daniel Bowler, David Moran, Tom Hoare, Tomas Kennedy, Barry John Keane, Shane McElligott, Darragh O'Connor, Tommy Walsh, Conor Hayes.
Subs: Ryan Carroll, Gearóid Savage, Conor O’Sullivan.
Scorers: Darragh 0-07, Conor 1-01, BJ 0-03, Tomás 0-03, Tom 0-02.
Both seamlessly integrated back into the squad, their influence undeniable, as we significantly raised the level of our performance from that seen to date - their presence seemed to have the desired effect on all their team mates who gained in confidence as the game unfolded.
The home side played with the strong breeze and hardly put a foot wrong in the opening quarter, racing into a 0-07 to 0-01 lead by the 12th minute with Tomás Kennedy notching our only score as he raced through the defence to fire over in the 6th minute.
An Ghaeltacht's dominance waned however as David Moran and Tom Hoare, ably assisted by Tomás Kennedy, Ben Hanafin and Jake Foley, began to make their presence felt with good scores coming from two pointed frees from Tom plus another two placed balls from Darragh O'Connor - indeed Darragh was proving to be a major thorn in their side and his overall points tally of 0-07 was testament to his overall influence.
Barry John had our first point from play since Tomás' opening effort in the 23rd minute with An Ghaeltacht replying in kind on the 26th minute; the next score, was pivotal as Conor Hayes found the bottom corner of the net to level matters; it all started with a good interception by Sam Pituch in defence who found Ben Hanafin and he made inroads into the defence before playing Conor in for the green flag.
We traded points from here to the short whistle which saw us trail by just one at the break, 0-11 to 1-07.
The omens for the second half were good with Barry John levelling matters from play and then Darragh, put us ahead for the first time with a point from play which he quickly followed up with another from a free; we went 3 up by the midway point of the 2nd half before An Ghealtacht again pulled back a score from a free.
The next score was probably the point of the match as Tomás Kennedy surged forward and wind assisted split the posts from distance.
Our defence held firm throughout this second half, defending stoutly, remaining composed without resorting to fouling - the opposition were only able to add four points in the 30+ mins played.
Ross made some important interceptions, Ben shadowed Tomás O'Sé to great effect whilst Daniel Bowler was on hand to hoover up any breaking ball. Shane McElligott in this period too made a huge contribution and played himself to a standstill.
In the end, we had a deserved win and now look forward to the visit of Glenflesk next weekend.
We would like to wish An Ghaeltacht's centre back and captain, PJ Mac Láimh the best as he recovers from an injury which forced his withdrawal.
Final score:
KO’R 1-16
An Ghaeltacht 0-15
Team: Rob O'Connor, Sam Pituch, Ross O'Callaghan, TJ Heaphy, Ben Hanafin, Jake Foley, Daniel Bowler, David Moran, Tom Hoare, Tomas Kennedy, Barry John Keane, Shane McElligott, Darragh O'Connor, Tommy Walsh, Conor Hayes.
Subs: Ryan Carroll, Gearóid Savage, Conor O’Sullivan.
Scorers: Darragh 0-07, Conor 1-01, BJ 0-03, Tomás 0-03, Tom 0-02.
