Kilkelly helps kick Coveys to Kelly Cup success
Killian Kilkelly's seven points were a big factor in Westport's victory over Breaffy.
Having had their back-to-back Moclair Cup dreams dashed by Breaffy at the quarter-final stage last year, Westport were eager to lay down an early season marker on Friday evening, even though this tie lacked the cut and thrust of championship football.
Both sides were missing some key men, however, it was the 2022 county champions who began the tie the sharper, with early points from Colm Moran, Killian Kilkelly, a free, and Moran again, mustering an early three-point cushion for the visitors.
Breaffy’s opening score arrived on five minutes, as Pierce Deane split the posts from the dead-ball, with his team-mate Ben Murphy quickly following suite with a neat effort from play. But Kilkelly would go on to have an outstanding outing for the visitors, especially from the placed ball, and his brace of frees stretched Martin Connolly’s charges lead to three points (0-5 to 0-2) as the opening quarter drew to a close.
Westport’s Paul Lambert and Breaffy’s Deane, from a free, exchanged quickfire points, but the host’s game-plan suffered a severe set-back on 20 minutes when their star midfielder Conor O’Shea was forced to retire due to injury.
Westport began to win some key breaks in the midfield engine room and some well-taken white-flagged efforts from Kevin Keane, two, including a free, Alan Kennedy and Oisin McLaughlin, helped amass a commanding 0-10 to 0-3 lead for the Sky Blue and Navy after 28 minutes.
Breaffy did manage to reduce the deficit to six points before the break, courtesy of a gem of a point from the boot of Steven McDermott, but James Fallon’s outfit had their work cut out for the second period as they trailed 0-10 to 0-4 during the half-time musings.
Westport’s momentum was halted somewhat when the busy Paul Lambert picked up a black card in the opening minute of the second-half and the visitors had to rejig their tactics.
Breaffy upped the tempo and they outgunned their opponents 0-2 to 0-1 from the 32nd up to the 36th minute, courtesy of efforts from Jack Livingstone, a free, and Murphy, with a free from Westport’s Kilkelly during the same period keeping the scoreboard operator busy. But that was as good as things would get for the Blue and White as Westport moved through the gears, thus resulting in scores for Kilkelly, two frees, and the bubbly Moran, which garnered a 0-14 to 0-6 lead for the guests after 47 minutes.
With senior football league fixtures coming down the line, both sides wanted to experiment and they made a raft of substitutions, which disrupted the flow of the game.
Breaffy’s Paul McDermott ever-so-slightly eroded the opposition’s lead when he popped over a fine white-flagged effort on 54 minutes. However, the busy Westport substitute Oisin McLaughlin was duly rewarded for his sterling effort when he rustled the back of the net from close-range on 56 minutes, in a dashing team move that was orchestrated by the omnipresent Lee Keegan.
Breaffy, though, refused to throw in the towel and a sweetly struck free by Joe Mellette called the umpire into action, which offered some respite for his beleaguered teammates.
Westport’s dead-ball sniper Kilkelly added his seventh and final free of the evening on 59 minutes, when his sweetly struck effort off the ground and from an acute angle clipped the upright and sailed over Jack Livingstone’s crossbar.
Breaffy managed to register the final score of what was a one-sided contest, when Tom O’Reilly’s goal attempt had slightly too much elevation and drew a white-flag instead of green.
In the end, Westport were much the better team and they will take plenty of positives from this display ahead of some tricky senior league fixtures down the line.
Scorers – Westport- Killian Kilkelly 0-7f, Oisin McLaughlin 1-1, Colm Moran 0-3, Kevin Keane 0-2 (1f), Paul Lambert, Alan Kennedy 0-1 each.
Breaffy: Ben Murphy and Pierce Deane (2f) 0-2 each, Jack Livingstone (f), Paul McDermott, Steven McDermott, Joe Mellette (f), Tom O’Reilly 0-1 each.
Breaffy: Jack Livingstone; Conor Melly, Conor Beirne, Mark Ward; Dara O’Neill, James Minogue, David Livingstone; Conor O’Shea, Conor Golden; Robbie Fadden, Davitt Neary, Paul McDermott; Steven McDermott, Ben Murphy, Pierce Deane. Subs: Gavan McManamon (for O’Shea 20, inj), Joe Mellette and Keith Mulchrone (for S McDermott and O’Neill 39), Tom O’Reilly (for Deane 49), Aidan Cunningham (for Murphy 52), Steven Lavelle (for P McDermott 57).
Westport: Paddy O’Malley; Brian McDermott, Niall McManamon, Luke Tunney; Ronan Geraghty, Lee Keegan, Paul Lambert; Joe Grady, Ray Walsh; Oisin McLaughlin, Alan Kennedy, Liam Shevlin; Colm Moran, Kevin Keane, Killian Kilkelly. Subs: Cian Grimes (for Grady 41), Tim Campion (for Geraghty 43), Conor McGraynor (for Keane 46), John Grady (for Shevlin 52), Kevin McGuire (for McLaughlin 57).
REF: Declan Corcoran (Islandeady)
