Kiltale win MHC Div 2 title
Kiltale won the MHC Div 2 final at Pairc Tailteann today with a 4-9 to 2-8 victory against Dunboyne.
The drizzle made conditions difficult for both teams and handling errors were a feature of the opening exchanges as Dunboyne established a fourth minute lead from a well-taken Simon Cunningham point.
Kiltale tallied six wides in the opening 10 minutes, but found the target soon after when Eoin McCabe scrambled the sliotar to the net. It got better by the end of the opening quarter with Adam McDonnell finding the net.
Eoghan Frayne lofted the sliotar towards the Dunboyne square and Donal Matthews got a touch that was sufficient to make the opening for McDonnell who rifled to the net.
As the teams adapted to the conditions there was more fluency to the game, but the outstanding player in that opening half was definitely Kiltale midfielder Frayne.
Kiltale enjoyed a 3-3 to 0-4 interval advantage after Matthews added his side's third goal with the Summerhill football duo of Frayne and McDonnell pointing, but Dunboyne's fortunes improved in tne closing minutes with points from Brian Donnelly (free), Joe Humphreys and Cunningham.
For the early part of the second-half Kiltale were in the comfort zone as they increased their lead to 11 points (3-7 to 0-5) with points from McDonnell (two, one free), Frayne and Darragh McVann, but they were rocked when Dunboyne grabbed an opportunist goal at the start of the final quarter.
Cunningham had managed a pointed free, but when he sent in another free Liam Callanan flicked the sliotar to the net.
That KIltale were rocked was evident from some of the tackling that saw Dunboyne awarded a 51st minute penalty that Brian Donnelly converted and when Keelan O'Connell and Cunningham (free) added points it left only a goal in it.
Had it been football there would have been a couple of black cards issued.
However, when Kiltale needed a steadying influence they found it in the form of a brace of inspirational Frayne points that sandwiched a similar effort by Donnelly (free) for Dunboyne.
A late Vinny Walsh goal sent Kiltale past the winning post with a little extra to spare and gave captain Gavin McVann the chance to raise the trophy.
"Hopefully it's the start of a good weekend for the club with the drive for six in the seniorfinal tomorrow," stated the KIltale captain.