Kildress Senior Men’s first game under the new ‘opened up’ COVID regime could hardly have gone better as they rattled up a 3-18 to 0-7 win today in the splendid setting of St Lawrence’s Park, Fintona.
From start to finish The Tones were in charge of this one, though The Pearses stuck to their task manfully and if they had shown anything like Kildress’ accuracy in front of the posts, they would certainly have scored more than they did.
After just 10 minutes Kildress were in front by six with Matty McGuigan (1-6 overall) and Philip Lennon (0-6) already doing damage, well supported by Stephen Loughran (0-4) and Damian Kelly. By half-time the lead was 0-13 to 0-5 and when Kildress notched the first 1-6 of the second-half, any doubts about the result were long gone. Corey Holland grabbed that first goal (to follow the two he had claimed in the Reserve game) and the others followed from Matty McGuigan (after the ‘pass of the day’ from Pauric Lagan) and Frank McGurk.
Kildress looked impressive today, their team showing a very strong balance between the very young and the not-so-young, along with a great strength in depth. Every Kildress player impressed but also consistently catching the eye along with their top scorers were Callum Holland, Marty and Aaron Loughran, Jonny Connolly, Pauric Lagan, Caolan McNamee and Conor Quinn. Probably their stand-out performer though was the ageless Marty Grimes whilst debutant Niall Connolly also caught the eye.
Referee Gary Gormley contributed greatly to a free-flowing and entertaining game.
Kildress: | Gerard Grimes | Aaron Loughran, Callum Holland, Marty Loughran | Eoin Branningan, Stephen McGurk, Jonny Connolly | Philip Lennon, Pauric Lagan | Stephen Loughran, Damian Kelly, Conor Quinn | Marty Grimes, Caolan McNamee, Matty McGuigan | Corey Holland, Niall Connolly, Des Treacy, Adam Connolly, Frank McGurk
In the Reserve match Kildress stormed to a whopping 6-22 to 0-7 win, scoring exactly 3-11 in each half. The goals were provided by Corey Holland (2), Gavin Corey (2), Liam Gilligan (1) and Niall Quinn (1) but again this was a very powerful performance from Kildress right throughout the field.
Both Kildress Men’s teams now top their League tables, having scored 9-40 today between them. Not much more can be asked for!
