Kinawley 2-13 Erne Gaels 1-15

Kinawley secured their first win of the Club Players’ Competition as they recorded a 2-13 to 1-15 victory over Erne Gaels on Sunday.

This was a game of two halves with the Brian Borus having led by seven at the break, 2-08 to 0-07 but were left hanging on in the end as Erne Gaels produced a strong second half display to close the gap back to a single point by the final whistle.

Kinawley manager Dom Corrigan feels that the game will only aid both sides as they prepare for the start of the league proper.

“It was certainly a game of two halves, we played good football in the first half and Belleek played all the football in the second half.

“It was a great contest for so early in the season and the game will benefit both teams going forward.

“These games are really valuable for preparing for the start of the senior league and it’s an opportunity to blood some young players,” said Corrigan.

Indeed, Corrigan did take the opportunity to give some of the younger members of his squad a debut with Donnacha Morris, Anthony Anderson and Eoin Drumm all making their first appearance at senior level on Sunday.

And it was the home side who got off to a flying start to the game as Eoghan McManus bagged an early goal while Tomas Corrigan followed up with a second goal for the Brian Borus as they forged open a 2-04 to 0-04 advantage.

Corrigan also contributed five points for Kinawley in the first half while Eoghan McManus, Sean McManus and Lorcan McKenna also clipped over scores.

Shane Rooney knocked over three points for Erne Gaels in the first half while Gareth Deery, Luke Ryder and Barry McCann also tagged on points but the Belleek side played second fiddle to the home side in the opening 30 minutes.

However, the visitors raised their game in the second half as they started to carry the fight to Kinawley and three quickfire points had them back to within four points.

Rooney and Martin Gilfeddar were among the scores for Erne Gaels during this spell but the home side seemed to have regained the upperhand as points from Ciaran Breen, Tomas Corrigan, Ruairi Corrigan and McKenna put them into a 2-12 to 0-10 lead.

A Gilfeddar goal though breathed life in to the Erne Gaels challenge and with Rooney and Ryder notching points they closed the gap back to three.

Ruairi Corrigan responded with a point for Kinawley but by this stage the momentum was with Erne Gaels and Deery, Brian Mullin and Gregory McGloin all rattled over points as they made it a one point game.

However, they were unable to get that equalising score as Kinawley held on for the win.

Erne Gaels manager Seamus Ryder was pleased with his side’s second half performance but felt that they just left themselves too much to do after the first half.

“It was a poor first half from us but a great second half. We ran out of time but we would be happy with the second half performance although we are disappointed to have two losses from our two games,” said Ryder.