Ryan Cunningham nails hattrick as Killybegs overcome St Naul's in Mountcharles

By the time Ryan Cunningham netted his hattrick on the 58th minute, it was clear that Killybegs was going to make it five wins from five in the Division 2 league as they overcame St Naul’s by five points in Mountcharles. 

The home side gave a good account of themselves, but it was the men from the fishing port town that always had the upper hand, leading the game from start to finish with full-forward Cunningham leading the way and finishing with a 3-2 tally. 

It might be a bit early in the season to jump to assumptions, but there was a feeling from the home support and gathering neutrals that Killybegs are ahead of the rest. Their football resembled a panel already staring down the barrel of promotion to Division 1 so early in the season. 

The result leaves them on top of the league as the only side with 10 points, and with the relationship in the forward line between Jack McSharry’s long kicks inside and Cunningham’s eye for goal, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why they’re the team to watch. 

Naul’s to their credit stayed with Killybegs for large portions of the game and even could’ve had an early goal when Thomas White cut inside to leave himself two-on-one with the goalkeeper but opted to take the point and level the match following an earlier score from Killybegs’ Michael Callaghan. 

But from then on, the away side would lead the way in the game, with the Mountcharles men relying heavily on ’keeper Joe Campbell to come up the field as an extra man and get involved in the attack, and to his credit he knocked over a point from play, with two more coming from dead ball kicks. 

Killybegs would keep their lead through scores from Callum Quinn, Ryan Carr, and Christophe Mulligan in the second quarter, but their first goal on 17 minutes proved their power up top, when McSharry’s long ball into Cunningham allowed the 24-year-old to slot through the full-back line, round Campbell in nets and fire home. 

His second goal would come on the edge of half-time when a foul inside the box resulted in a penalty. Cunningham’s first kick hit the crossbar before he nailed home the rebound to leave it 2-5 to 0-7 at the break.  

Tempers flared between the home side and referee Martin Coll over the ruling of the penalty and whether Cunningham was allowed to touch the ball after initially kicking it, but the score remained. 

Player-manager Stephen Griffin would keep Naul’s within touching distance through his free kicks, but the home side could never find that needed goal despite coming close on a number of occasions. 

Killybegs hit their purple patch firing over three points on the bounce through Callaghan, Carr, and McSharry, but by the time Charlie Breslin nailed home the away team’s third goal, the game looked all but over. 

It went from bad to worse moments later when Cunningham sailed through and power past the defence and goalkeepers for his hattrick and his team’s fourth goal with the men in red now leading by eight. 

Michael Coughlan put some respect on the scoreline when he eventually found the net for St Naul’s to reduce the gap to five on the hour mark, but it was all too late at that point with Killybegs leaving the Mountcharles parish with two points in the bag. 

Scorers – St Naul’s: Stephen Griffin 0-6, 5fs; Michael Coughlan 1-1; Joe Campbell 0-3, 1f, 1 ‘45’; Declan Duignan 0-2; Thomas White 0-1. Killybegs: Ryan Cunningham 3-2, 1f, 1 penalty; Michael Callaghan and Ryan Carr 0-2 each; Jack McSharry, Christopher Mulligan and Callum Quinn 0-1 each. 

St Nauls: Joe Campbell; John Rose, John Relihan, Daniel Gallagher; Kyle Campbell, Michael Coughlan, Oisin Mogan; Shane Conneely, Barry Griffin; Barry Burke, Thomas White, Kian McCabe; Martin Breslin, Stephen Griffin, Declan Duignan. Subs: Jonathan O’Driscoll for Conneely (35); Cathal Lowther for Burke (59). 

Killybegs: Corey Byrne; Eoin McGing, Cillian Gildea, Ryan Carr; Charlie Breslin, Seamus Og Byrne, Ben Coneely; Christopher Cunningham, Rory Colyer; Callum Quinn, Jack McSharry, Christopher Mulligan; Eoin Mulligan, Ryan Cunningham, Michael Callaghan. Subs: Josh Coyler for Christopher Cunningham (35); Donal McGuire for Mulligan (56). 

Referee: Martin Coll