Intermediate Football - Wolfe Tones v Christopher's

Christopher’s 2-21 Wolfe Tones 2-11

It took more than one half of football for Christopher’s to pull away from their opponents and seal the points in the final Intermediate match in the regular season phase of the competition.  Win or lose it was always going to be Christopher’s playing the Shannon Blues  next week in the semi-final, and the Tones made a game of it until they ran out of steam in the second  half of the game.

Wolfe Tones played their final game of 2022 Sunday

The first half was marked by 4 goals, 2 for each team.  The Tones looked the better of the teams over the first 15 minutes and had tallied a 6 points to 2 advantage.  Oran McCarney, Rian Moylan, Cormac Joyce-Power and Gavin Walsh all had found the space between the posts and it was looking to be a promising outing for the men in blue.  Christopher’s wiped away most of that advantage with a cheeky Alan Kennedy goal.  Kennedy was headed across the face of goal with a number of defenders in between, and a point looked on but the Westport man fooled everyone sneaked the ball inside the post with a low shot.  A Kennedy free had the teams level but the Tones struck back.  It was Cian McGovern who was played through and from an angle finished well.

Christopher’s then netted a second from Diarmuid Baker who made the Tones pay full price for a turnover and the Christopher’s wing back finished well.  The goals were not over yet though.  The Tones went seeking to get it back again and after Cian McGovern was pulled down in the area, Gavin Walsh did not leave much room for error as his penalty shot to the top corner came off the underside of the bar and into the net.  Michael Kerr pointed a 45 for the Tones and two Kennedy frees for Christopher’s made it a slim 2-7 to 2-6 Tones advantage at the break.

Christopher's advance to next week's semi-final

Christopher’s took over the game in the second half and it was a case of death by a thousand points.   The Kilkelly – Kennedy axis went into full tilt, and with some great support from the half back line in the form of Luke Tunny and Baker the points sailed over the Tones crossbar.  There could have been a goal but Ben Savage made a good save from Andrew Inman’s close range shot.  The Tones only had a Gavin Walsh effort to account for their efforts while Christopher’s racked up 8 with no reply. 

As the subs came on to get a run out the curtain came down on the 2022 season for the Wolfe Tones.  In fairness getting a team out on the field will be seen as a success and hopefully there is something to build on for the club for the coming years.  Christopher’s are into a showdown with the Blues next week to see who plays Kerry in the final in 2 weeks’ time.

Christopher’s:  Bill Crookston, Jake Kelley, Martin Coppinger, Pat Kenneally, Luke Tunney, Diarmuid Baker, Andrew Inman, Conor McGuinness, Gerry Bannon, Killian Kilkelly, Paul Cannon, San Kendellan, Alan Kennedy.

Tones:  Ben, Ronan Fox, Dylan Hand, Oran McCarney, Stephen Grogan, Mikey Kerr, Dylan Murtagh, Cormac Joyce-Power, Cian McGovern, Gavin Walsh, Oisin McCarney, Caolan Slevin, Rian Moylan.

By Rory O'Donnell