Brilliant Kilmeena march on to All-Ireland junior final

By Aiden Henry

Mayo champions Kilmeena booked their place in the All-Ireland club junior football championship final after a massive 1-18 to 0-6 victory over Offaly and Leinster champions Clonbullogue in Pearse Park, Longford, this afternoon.

As the final scoreline suggest, this was a massive win for Kilmeena. From start to finish the west Mayo side produced another magnificent performance to book their place in the decider, which will be against Kerry and Munster champions Gneeveguilla in Croke Park next weekend.

Playing with the aid of the strong breeze, Kilmeena set about their business from the first minute. Darragh Keavney, Sean Ryder and impressive midfielder Jack Carney kicked points in the opening four minutes, and even in these early moments it was evident that Kilmeena were eager, prepared and composed for this big game.

After John McGlynn added a fourth point, they hit the Offaly side with a major blow in the 10th minute when, following a great move up the field, Carney placed Keavney with an inch-perfect pass before the corner forward showed great composure to slide the ball past the Clonbullogue goalkeeper.

From that moment onwards there was no stopping Kilmeena. Keaveney (two), Keith Joyce and McGlynn raised further white flags to leave them leading by 1-8 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter.

With the Kilmeena defence proving rock solid (they restricted their opponents to just two points in the first half), the Mayo side continued to pick off many delightful scores.

Two brilliant points from wing-back Niall Feehan and one each from Keavney and McGlynn left them in a very comfortable position at half-time as they led by 13 points, 1-12 to 0-2.

Playing into the strong wind after the resumption, it was always going to be a case for Kilmeena of restricting their opponents from getting any easy scores.

This they did to perfection. Indeed, for the whole of the second half Clonbullogue only managed to add four points to their tally as they were never allowed to really threaten Kilmeena goalkeeper Paul Groden.

Throughout the second half, Kilmeena's patient build-up play was masterful as they played around with the ball before getting one of their players in prime position to take on a shot.

This paid dividends no less than six times, with Sean Ryder, Joyce, Jack Carney (two), McGlynn and the evergreen Niall Ryan raising white flags to leave them winners by a massive 15 points in the end.

*See Tuesday's print edition for more on the game