Kinawley 3-12 Scotstown 1-08

 

It was an impressive start to Kinawley’s journey in Ulster as they were in dominant form against Monaghan champions Scotstown last Saturday.

The Brian Borus side booked their place in the quarter-final of the Ulster Intermediate Championship with an impressive 10 point victory which sets up a trip to Downpatrick this weekend.

For Kinawley boss, Adrian Diver, despite the the comfortable win, he knows there is plenty to improve on for the next challenge.

“I was obviously very pleased to get the win. The first round of Ulster, a week after the county championship win, was always going to be a tricky game with the quick turnaround and all the emotion of winning a county championship so it’s great to get the win,” he said.

“That said, I thought we were poor enough in the first half, we conceded a poor goal and I thought we were slow to get going. I felt we looked quite heavy legged and I was happy enough to get in to the dressing room at half time ahead.”

Despite the sluggish start, Diver was pleased with the second half display adding: “We really got up to the pace of the game and I felt we got to grips with the Scotstown attack.

“We were able to create and then exploit the space and we managed to get the goals at the right time. I think the game was closer than the score line suggests and once again our subs came on and made a big impact.”

As well as the win on the pitch, Diver also paid tribute to the club as a whole on the day.

“I have to say that I was really proud of the efforts of the girls in that second half and indeed of the whole club in general on Saturday. I thought Kinawley did themselves proud with the organisation of the event from start to finish.

“There was a massive crowd there who were very vocal in their support of the girls which had a huge impact on us and were really the 16th player on the day.”

Kinawley opened the scoring through a couple of Joanne Doonan frees before Scotstown found the back of the net through Megan Boylan.

Keelan Murphy hit Kinawley’s first from play alongside another Doonan free before Scotstown levelled matters.

Kinawley’s first goal came after the water break through Shauna Melanaphy and just before half time they had their second as Doonan found the net.

Scotstown tagged on a couple of scores near the end of the half to leave it 2-04 to 1-03.

On the resumption of play more Doonan frees extended the Kinawley lead before the Monaghan side hit a bit of a purple patch to fire over three unanswered scores.

But Kinawley responded well and they had scores from Doonan frees to keep control of matters before Doonan hit her second goal of the day and this was followed by a Courteney Murphy point.

With the game effectively over, Scotstown did tag on a couple of scores while Doonan hit her ninth free of the game late on the end with 2-09 on the day as Kinawley sealed their quarter-final place.

Looking ahead to the Downpatrick game, Diver admits he knows little about the opposition.

“Once again we are going into the unknown. Downpatrick will obviously be a very good team having won their championship in a big county like Down.

“Obviously they’ve had extra time to get ready for the game and I’m sure they had representation at our game so they will be well prepared.

“They have home advantage as well so it’s clear that we will be up against it on Saturday. However, we will go there to try to win. It’s a big day for the club on two fronts with the men playing their semi final later in the day and we will try to add to the feel good factor within club by winning and pave the way forward for the lads to do the same.”

Kinawley face RGU Downpatrick at 2pm on Saturday, November 30 in Downpatrick.