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O’Dempsey’s 4-14 Arles-Killeen 0-12
Laois Shopping Centre SFC Round 2 Losers
Three goals in the opening 18 minutes laid the foundations for O’Dempsey’s to get their Laois SFC campaign back on track in O’Moore Park this evening as they sent Arles-Killeen into a relegation playoff.
A Conor Meredith penalty after four minutes got them up and running and further goals from Eoin and Michael Finlay helped them into a 3-3 to 0-3 lead by the 18th minute.
Michael Finlay also blasted over from close range on another occasion while young Mark Barry hit the crossbar as goal chances came thick and fast for the Killenard men.
Paul Kingston was at full-forward for Killeen but he was essentially double marked by Shane Nerney and Peter O’Leary at times as Killeen brought men back and attempted to break forward.
To Killeen’s credit they kept plugging away with Dermot Julian and Brendan O’Shea pointing from play and Donie Kingston and Jason Enright on target with frees.
Indeed Killeen could have had a goal themselves when Donie Brennan was unlucky to see an effort come back off the post while Joe Mulhare was almost in on another occasion only to be dragged down for a free that Donie Kingston converted.
With Barry Kelly and Michael Finlay adding points however, O’Dempsey’s brought a 3-5 to 0-8 lead in at the break.
Liam Whelehan and Matthew Finlay pointed for O’Dempsey’s early in the second half and then Eoin Finlay pounced for his second goal when he got a fist to a high ball in the square. That put 11 between them on 36 minutes and removed whatever mystery remained in the game.
The talking points for the remainder of the game arrived via a couple of dismissals – two yellows for Conor Meredith and a straight red for Paul Kingston, one that will have a considerable knock-on effect for Killeen assuming he’s suspended for their relegation game.
The impressive Mark Barry and Barry Kelly added to their tally with late points and O’Dempsey’s pulled clear to have 14 points to spare at the final whistle.
SCORERS – O’Dempsey’s: Eoin Finlay 2-1, Matthew Finlay 0-5 (one free, one ’45), Michael Finlay 1-2, Conor Meredith 1-0 (penalty), Mark Barry 0-3 (one free), Barry Kelly 0-2, Liam Whelehan 0-1, Arles-Killeen: Donie Kingston 0-5 (four frees), Jason Enright 0-2 (frees), Brendan O’Shea 0-1, Dermot Julian 0-1, Paul Kingston 0-1, Donie Brennan 0-1, Sean O’Shea 0-1
O’DEMPSEY’S: Padraig Bannon; Tommy Kehoe, Peter O’Leary, Shane Nerney; Barry Kelly, Robbie Kehoe, Cormac O’Hora; Conor Meredith, Rory Bracken; Liam Whelehan, Michael Finlay, Matthew Finlay; Mark Barry, Dan McCormack, Eoin Finlay. Subs: Tom Kelly for McCormack (injured – 40), Bryan Meredith for Michael Finlay (61), Eoin Cunningham for Whelehan (61)
ARLES-KILLEEN: Michael Leigh; James Mahon, Joe Mulhare, Brian Kennedy; Niall O’Rourke, John Mahon, Conor Keightley; Shane Julian, Donie Kingston; Jason Enright, Sean O’Shea, Dermot Julian; Brendan O’Shea, Paul Kingston, Donie Brennan. Subs: Evan McDonald for O’Rourke (half-time)
REFEREE: Eamon Strong (Emo)
SEE ALSO – Lowrys lead the way and Attride retuns as Killeshin record impressive win
