Second dominant performance from Kilcar on the bounce as they ease past Glenfin

Patrick McBrearty followed up his nine-point tally last week against St Naul’s with another tremendous scoring display, as Kilcar dominated this round 3 affair from start to finish with a 0-18 to 1-8 point win over Glenfin. 

The rain thankfully eased up on Saturday evening when the ball was throw-in in Glenfin, but the level of scoring from the boys in blue and gold was in abundance.   

McBrearty kicked his first of nine points inside the first two minutes after he was pulled back by a Glenfin defender when through on goal following a superb ball in from Ryan McHugh. 

The home side attempted to match Kilcar early doors on the physical aspect but couldn’t land the scores as the men from Towney extended their lead by winning Glenfin’s kickouts with ease and firing over from distance with McBrearty, Matthew McClean, Mark McHugh, and Eoin McHugh all putting their names on the scoreboard inside the opening 15 minutes. 

It would take Glenfin 19 minutes to raise their first white flag when Daniel Marley played a super crossfield ball into Odhran O’Connor who turned the Kilcar defence to slot over. 

But this didn’t worry Kilcar in the slightest, even after losing Stephen McBrearty through injury early doors, with his brother nailing over two more frees, while Eoin Cormack fired one between the posts outside of the right to leave it 0-10 to 0-1 point as half-time approached. 

Glenfin would have the final say with Luke McGlynn and Daniel Marley pointing from frees but the boys in red knew they had a large mountain to climb in the second half as they marched to the dressing rooms for the break with Kilcar leading 0-10 to 0-3. 

The home side hit the first point of the second half as soon as the ball was thrown in, with Jason Morrow finding space to kick over from 45 metres, but McBrearty would respond with his seventh point of the game minutes later to keep his side pushing on. 

By this stage Kilcar started to seriously find their rhythm as they broke Glenfin’s defensive line with Ryan O’Donnell, Ryan McShane, Eoin McHugh, and McClean all nailing over superb scores as the home side began to tire. 

McBrearty never left his foot off the gas, with Ryan McHugh, with fantastic vision, crossfielding the ball into his full-forward partner for the Donegal captain to kick over his eighth point on the 50th minute. 

Glenfin softened the scoreline with Aaron McGlynn ballooning the ball into Stephen Ward, who bypassed two Kilcar defenders to nail into the top left of the net to make it 1-6 to 0-16 points. 

Kilcar fought to the end but never got their goal despite being denied twice with Ryan O’Donnell and Ryan McShane being stopped by Kaine McGlynn in goals on both occasions. 

McGlynn and Morrow slotted the final two points for the home side, while McBrearty and a fisted Conor O’Donnell point finished the contest with Kilcar making it two wins from two as they returned to Towney with a seven-point win. 

Scorers – Glenfin: Luke McGlynn 0-3, 2fs; Stephen Ward 1-0; Jason Morrow 0-2; Odhran O’Connor, Daniel Marley and Shaun Ward 0-1 each. Kilcar: Patrick McBrearty 0-9, 5fs; Matthew McClean 1f, and Eoin McHugh 0-2 each; Mark McHugh, Ciaran McGinley, Ryan O’Donnell, Ryan McShane, and Conor O’Donnell 0-1 each. 

Glenfin: Kaine McGlynn; Martin O’Donnell, Ross Marley, John Harkin; Stephen Carr, Frank McGlynn, Jack Long; Shaun Ward, Jason Morrow; Daniel Marley, Odhran McGlynn, Aaron McGlynn; Odhran O’Connor, Luke McGlynn, Ciaran Brady. Subs: Stephen Ward for Brady (40 mins); Daniel McGlynn for Carr (44 mins); Gerard Ward for Daniel Marley (50 mins).  

Kilcar: Eoin O’Donnell; Barry McGinley, Pauric Carr, Ryan McShane; Brian O’Donnell, Mark McHugh, Ryan McHugh; Eoin McHugh, Ciaran McGinley; Matthew McClean, Stephen McBrearty, Oran Doogan; Eoin Cormack, Patrick McBrearty, Mark Sweeney. Subs: Ryan O’Donnell for McBrearty (6 mins); Conor O’Donnell for Sweeney (52 mins).  

Referee: Shaun McLaughlin (Malin)