Kilcar hold on for victory after given good test by Bundoran

Kilcar overcame a dogged test from Realt na Mara to win by the narrowest of margins in Gaelic Park Bundoran. 

Realt na Mara 3-11
Kilcar  2-15

Both sides started short of some regular players most notably Patrick McBrearty, Eoin McHugh and Ciaran McGinley for the visitors whilst Paul Brennan, Niall Carr,  Adam McGlone were absent for the home side.

Playing with a strong breeze in the opening half Bundoran started strongly and had a dream start when Michael McEniff bundled the ball to the net on four minutes.Ryan McHugh had an excellent goal chance denied by Conor Jack McManus and from the resultant attack a curling effort from Jamie Brennan put the home side  four up.

The visitors then got into the groove hitting six unanswered points with Mark Sweeney and Oran Doogan hitting 2 each and Stephen McBrearty and a  Mark McHugh free putting the Towney men two ahead on 15 minutes.

Then on 18 mins a poor kick out from Kevin Campbell saw Matthew Duffy with an open goal but his effort hit the side netting to the despair of the natives. 

This proved very costly as following this Kilcar hit two goals in a blistering three minute spell. Firstly Ryan McShane finished an excellent team move before his namesake Ryan McHugh was the quickest to react after an initial fine save by McManus in the home goals.

Jamie Brennan on the ball with Brian O'Donnell of Kilcar closing in Picture: Ger Foy

Peter Macintyre’s side responded well though and a great run by Matthew Duffy at the heart of the Kilcar defence saw him offload to Jamie Brennan who blasted to the roof of Campbell's net on 24 minutes.

The score of the game came soon after when Kyle McNulty received the ball in his own half and sold several Mugsy Mulligan-like dummies before blasting over to leave it a three point game on 25 minutes.

A fine long range effort from Stephen McBrearty was soon cancelled out by Jamie Brennan to leave the halfti-me score: Realt na Mara 2-4  Kilcar 2-7.

Playing now with the breeze the visitors started strongly and a succession of quick points from McBrearty and the very lively Andrew McClean had ive between the sides after just four minutes of the second half. But again the home side showed their resilience with four points in-a-row  from Timmy Govorov, Cian McEniff, Jamie Brennan and a free from Gary Clancy. 

A Mark McHugh free on 42 mins put two  between the sides but this was quickly followed by a somewhat harsh black card for his younger sibling Ryan following a foul on a Bundoran defender. 

Despite being at a numerical disadvantage Kilcar hit the next two points from Mark Sweeney and Stephen McBrearty. Another point from Brennan was soon cancelled out when Brian O’Donnell hit two excellent points in-a-row to ease the men in blue five ahead with five minutes remaining.

Jamie Brennan, who was back to his brilliant best, hit the last of his 1-6 personal tally on 56 mins .

Kilcar then received a second black card when Ryan McShane cynically pulled down a Bundoran attacker. Bundoran were unlucky when a Kyle McNulty effort was cleared off the line by Barry Shovlin and from the resultant attack Mark Sweeney hit Kilcar’s final score of the game on 59 minutes.

In a frantic finish  a Jamie Brennan free was lofted into the goalmouth and Cian McEniff fisted to the net. As the game entered injury time Michael McEniff split the posts again to leave the minimum between the sides. Unfortunately for the Seasiders time had run out and Robbie O Donnell’s long whistle was met with groans from the home supporters as they had just fell agonisingly short of an unlikely result.

A short skirmish ensued in the middle of the pitch but this was quickly followed by handshakes all round as Kilcar march on in pursuit of the Dr Maguire whilst the men from the south must go into the relegation battle for a second year in-a-row against Milford. Kilcar will face neighbours Killybegs in the quarter-finals.

Aodh Ruadh hold on to avoid a burning at Milford

Milford hit back from eight points down to push Aodh Ruadh all the way as John McNulty's team made it four wins from four in the Senior Football Championship.

Realt na Mara scorers: J Brennan 1-6; C McEniff, M McEniff 1-1 each; K McNulty,  G Clancy (1f) T Govorov 0-1 each.

Kilcar  scorers: M Sweeney, S McBrearty 0-4 each;  R McShane, R McHugh 1-0 each;   B O’Donnell,  O Doogan,  M McHugh (2f)  0-2 each;  A McClean 0-1

Realt na Mara:  Conor Jack McManus;  Brian McHenry,  Johnny Boyle, Oisin Walsh; Adam Gallagher, Shane McGowan,  Ciaran Doherty; Matthew Duffy, Cian McEniff; Jakub Machunik, Timmy Govorov, Kyle McNulty; Jamie Brennan, Gary Clancy, Michael McEniff. Subs: Darragh Hoey for C Doherty (41); Peter McGonigle for Jakub Machunik (48)

Kilcar: Kevin Campbell; Barry Shovlin, Brian O Donnell, Ryan McShane;  Ryan  O’Donnell,  Andrew McClean, Patrick McShane; Stephen McBrearty, Jason Campbell; Ryan McHugh,  Conor Doherty, Daniel Lyons; Oran Doogan,  Mark Sweeney, Mark McHugh. Sub: Eoghan Cormac for Ryan O’Donnell (56) 

Referee: Robbie O Donnell  (Naomh Muire)