Carna-Caiseal turn the screw in second half to stay in hunt

Carna-Caiseal 3-8

Killererin 1-11

Pádraic Ó Ciardha in Indreabhán

A brilliant second half performance, during which they turned a five point deficit into a three point lead, was enough to see Carna-Caiseal past Killererin last Saturday evening. Seán Ó Cualáin’s men were the only team in it during that second period and they hit their goals at just the right stages.

The turnaround seemed sparked by a change in tactics by Carna-Caiseal. Having gotten little change out of the direct ball into their forwards during the first half, they carried possession to great effect after the interval.

Killererin, for their part, were far too reliant on the talents of Mikey Boyle in the full-forward line. With his namesake, Michael Boyle, missing through injury, responsibility fell to the young forward and he was outstanding in the first half but when supply dried up after the break Killererin had precious few other options.

While the six-time champions were on top for most of the first half, it was Carna-Caiseal who began the brighter and they lead 1-1 to 0-1 after ten minutes. Niall Coyne and James Hughes opened the scoring for both sides before Seosamh Ó Cathasaigh grabbed the game’s first goal.

Centre-back Seán Ó Cillín played a long ball into the full-forward line which Ó Cathasaigh flicked into the path of Niall Coyne. The former intercounty player then handpassed across goal, back to Ó Cathasaigh, who raced in to fist the ball into the back of the net.

Killererin settled into the contest at this point, however, and hit the next four points to take the lead by the 18th minute. Two close-range frees from James Hughes started the burst before Mikey Burke popped up on both sides of the pitch to pop over good scores.

Adrian Nolan saw a fisted effort come back off the crossbar during the same period and though Niall Coyne scored a nice point to level the game for Carna-Caiseal, 1-2 to 0-5, Killererin hit 1-2 in the closing stages of the half to give them a cushion at the break.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.