St. Kevins: 3-8 (17)
Ardee St. Marys: 2-13 (19)
St Kevins: Brandon Johnson, Cameron Maher (0-1), Finbarr Lynch, Darren McMullan, Josh McArdle Lynch, Eoin McKenna, Karl Martin, Evan Maher (0-1), Brian Callaghan (1-0), Evan Doheny, TJ Doheny (1-3), Conor Rogers, Adam Cromwell, Lee Crosbie(1-4), Tom Mathews, Josh Finlay for Brandon Johnson, Sean Powderly for Josh McArdle Lynch, Keelan Maher for Conor Rogers, Cillian McCullough for Tom Matthews, Tomas Guinan for Adam Cromwell, Colin Byrne for Brian Callaghan.
An excellent second half performance by Thomas McNamee’s side was not enough to warrant any points as St. Kevins came out at the wrong end of a game of high quality in Philipstown on Sunday morning.
A strong breeze coupled with a slow start left Philipstown with too high a mountain to overcome, finding themselves 2-02 to 0-01 down after 18 minutes. Yet a Lee Crosbie penalty, after Tom Mathews was hauled down inside the box when he was about to pull the trigger, seemed to inspire a comeback.
Although a lot of possession went in favour of St. Marys, their lack of efficiency in front of goal in the first half left their opposition in the game, kicking 12 wides in the opening half hour alone. St. Kevin’s trailed 1-3 to 2-6 at the break.
The tide completely changed in the second half as early scores from TJ Doheny and Evan Maher set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. But it was a Brian Callaghan goal, his second in as many weeks, that was a key factor in Philipstown’s comeback, as a neat move by Lee Crosbie and Tom Mathews left Callaghan with enough time to volley home from inside the box.
Mathews, who was at the heart of every Philipstown attack, was the orchestrator for St. Kevins again. For his team’s third goal he provided a lovely pass in the build up where TJ Doheny avoided a tackle well, firing hard and low to level the tie with 20 minutes to play.
Monster scores from corner back Cameron Maher and TJ Doheny, and turnovers from Darren McMullan and Karl Martin kept their team ticking but Ardee’s Cian Commins and Darren Clarke’s constant scoring was too much for the Kevins to come back from.
St. Kevins bow out of the competition at the hands of the holders but have their heads high going into the Division 2 league commencing on Saturday evening.