Played in glorious sunshine, the Cilles welcomed Senior Champions for the last two years Simonstown to Piltown.
The Cilles welcomed back Ben Brennan fresh from his exploits less than 24hours earlier for Meath and it was he whom shone brightest for the Cilles, in a game in which they will rue their first half display.
The Cilles also welcomed back Ciaran Kelly from injury as a substitute in the second half, however like Simonstown the Seasiders were missing a large number of players. The Cilles may have won the 2nd half 0-6 : 0-2, however it was that first half display that proved costly, with the experienced visitors dominating proceedings and attacking at will with some excellent scores. The opening score of the game was a goal from the visitors following a ball palmed to the back of the net from McCabe (Crouchy).
Further points followed from the visitors and wing backs McGrath and Kane (the latter the Cilles GPO) attacked at will down the flanks, with Kane helping himself to 3points in the game. The visitors were clinical in the first half and rattled of 13points in that opening period, all but 1 from play. The Half Time score was 1-3 to 1-13 with the Cilles goal coming from Ben Brennan whom showed his strength to create some space and then with excellent skill, lobbed Burlington in the Simonstown goals with an excellent chip shot. The second half was better for the Cilles, but they could not get the scores needed to claw their way back.
Cilles: J Browne, D Brodigan, C Mullen, F Walsh, S Crilly, I Mullen, J Kavanagh, R O’Grady, R McCloskey, A Lynch, D O’Byrne (0-1), J Sweeney, L Browne, B Brennan (1-4), J Reynolds (0-3).
Subs: E Sweeney for D Brodigan, E Woods for I Mullen, C Kelly (0-1) for J Sweeney, J McElearney for L Browne
Simonstown: R Burlington, S O’Reilly, S Moran, N McMahon, B McGrath, B Conlon, N Kane, J Kilcullen, R O’Connor, B Hoey, S Barry, M McCabe, M Gardiner, C Sheridan, A Kearney.
Match Report: Barry McDonald
Photography: www.brianmulligan.ie
Archive Images available to view HERE
