Claremorris Knock-ed down by Hosty
Tussle for the ball: action from last Sunday's Super League encounter between Claremorris and Kiltimagh/Knock United. Picture: John Corless
The chances of survival in the Super League for Claremorris were severely damaged on Sunday morning by their more focussed neighbours Kiltimagh/Knock United.
The home side sit bottom of the table and are five point from safety, with only six points with six points after 15 games. They have now lost six on the bounce, and it is difficult to see where they will get enough points from their remaining games against Ballyheane, Manulla and an improving Crossmolina, to survive the drop.
On Sunday they couldn’t deal with the intelligent play of Conor Flynn and the lethal finishing of Ethan Hosty, who scored a hat trick. While Claremorris had most of the play, and apart from the goals they scored, they didn’t create much against the solid KK defence.
KK took the lead against the run of play when Cillian Finn headed home at the back post on nineteen minutes. A Dylan Roche pass to Flynn set up Hosty for his first with 27 minutes gone. Four minutes later, Simon Butler pulled one back for Claremorris with his diving header at the back post from Brandon Walsh’s diagonal pass.
The sides got a goal each in first half stoppage time. First, Joe Glynn cut through the middle unchallenged, to make it 3-1 to the visitors and immediately after the restart, Jason Murphy bicycle-kicked it into the net to make it 3-2.
Hosty added two in the second half to seal the important win. The first came after Flynn broke and passed clinically. Six minutes later, just after the hour mark, Hosty did the work himself to complete the hat-trick. Calvin Joyce pulled one back late on for Claremorris but it wasn’t enough.
“It was a tough game,” man of the match Hosty told the afterwards. “We’re delighted to get the win. It’s a massive three points for us. It was an over and back sort of game. the hat-trick wouldn’t happen without my teammates. Conor Flynn is so easy to play with as is Jamil Kezze. We can’t be in a battle like this next season. We have to build on this season and be stronger next year.” David McCracken, who returned to Claremorris after spells with Manulla and Ballina Town, said that Claremorris paid a heavy price for individual sloppy mistakes at the back.
“We did have more possession than they did, but if you mess up at the back you’re going to get punished,” he said. “We did well to get back into the game from two-nil down, but it’s hard when you are chasing the game, nearly all the game. I came back to try and help Claremorris stay up. It’s a little bit harder after this result, but hopefully we can survive.” KK manager James Costello said it was a tough game on a tight pitch. “They suit it well,” he said. “They sat in and soaked up the pressure. We struggled a bit early on before we got into it. For much of the game I thought we were on a different level. We’ll be looking for points from our remaining games to make sure of safety.” Hosty, Flynn and Kezze were outstanding for KK. Their defence was solid too, with Finn and Dylan Roache fighting for everything. McCracken was the stand out player for Claremorris.
