Jun B FC: Cortown confirm top spot

Cortown's Kian Fitzsimons

Cortown 0-17
Clonard 1-13

Cortown maintained their 100% record in this year’s Junior B Championship by the skin of their teeth and in so doing topped the group with this one-point victory over Clonard on Sunday lunchtime in a well-presented Ballivor.

It was the second game running that Davy Wright’s side have emerged victorious from battle by a solitary point which shows the fighting traits of the squad but also the huge room for improvement.

The wind was a major factor in the match with it proving to be the proverbial game of two halves. Clonard won the toss and elected to play against the gust in the opening half and Cortown raced into a four-point lead thanks to a two-pointer from Championship debutant Cian Loughran and scores frees from Jake Coyne and Kian Fitzsimons.

Clonard opened their account thanks to back-to-back frees from the impressive Kayden Plunkett. Cortown then carved out a goal chance, but Elliot Reilly blazed over for a point instead. With time ebbing away in the half, Cortown’s overeagerness to shoot very nearly proved costly with a serious of missed opportunities from outside the arc.

They did however muster a hattrick of two-point frees from Fitzsimons, Coyne and Loughran. Clonard, who needed a result to qualify themselves for the semi-final stayed in touch thanks to Plunkett and fellow debutant Kian Campbell from cheap frees given away by the men in yellow.

The North Meath side did add to their tally before the break with a trio of scores unanswered from Tommy Smith, Fitzsimons and Davy Rispin to make it a double scores game, 0-14 to 0-7.

Clonard wasted little time in eroding Cortown’s half time lead in the early exchanges of the second half with scores from Aaron Scott, Dylan Duignan and Ryan Raleigh with another free from Fitzsimons the sole Cortown riposte. Eoghan Connolly made it a three-point game and immediately after a Colm McGearty kickout went astray and Connolly finished for his customary goal against Cortown to put his side in front.

Against a gale, struggling to win a ball and all the momentum lost, Cortown managed to eek out a free on the right of the 40-metre arc. McGearty made his way up and from the deck managed to draw the ball in splendidly from right to left for a two-pointer and the lead again entering stoppage time.

Clonard were not done and had several opportunities to either draw or win it thanks to a generous seven minutes of stoppage time and some even more generous frees awarded by Drumconrath referee Peter O’Halloran. Clonard could not make one count though and lost out on a place in the penultimate stages by a whisker to the enormous relief of Boardsmill in the dressing rooms over in Dunderry.

Cortown: Colm McGearty (0-2 two-point free); Josh Keating, Decky Clarke, Cian Madden; Charlie Smith, Daragh Smith, Gavin Clarke; Cian Loughran (0-4 one two-pointer, one two-point free), Elliot Reilly (0-1); Ciaran Keating, Jake Coyne (0-3 one two-point free), Kevin Muldoon; Tommy Smith (0-1), Hugh Staunton, Kian Fitzsimons (0-5 two frees, one two-point free).

Subs – Davy Rispin (0-1) for Muldoon, Muldoon for T Smith, Luke Carberry for Loughran, Declan Coyne for Reilly.

Referee: Peter O’Halloran (Drumconrath)