O'Rourke Cup Strokestown V Kilmore 25/04/09

Strokestown 0-13, KIlmore 0-11.

The senior team made it 4 wins on the trot with a fantastic derby victory over Kilmore in Kilmore. A stunning second half performance was the catalyst for the black and amber victory with Coman and Colm on the sideline making some astute tactical changes which worked out perfectly.

Strokestown began the first 10 minutes of the game brightly registering the first score and adding a second but after this until the 29' it was all Kilmore. Town seemed unable to get the ball inside the Kilmore 45 during this period with the home side pouring on and picking up all the braking ball. In this spell Kilmore kicked 7 unanswered points. Strokestown crucially got a 3rd point in the last minute of the half which left a 4 point gap between the sides. For all Kilmore's pressure they still hadn't managed to create a clear winning margin.

The second half was a completly different affair from a black and amber perspective. Town made 3 changes at half time with Paddy Brogan replacing Davie Parker, Damian Caslin replacing Johnny Dolan and Ronan Owens replacing Emmet Collins. In fact with some tactical manouvering from the side line Shovels went in to the edge of the Kilmore square with John Rogers reverting to wing back and Paddy Brogan playing corner forward. Strokestown also dispensed with the 2 man inside forward line and reverted to the traditional 3 man full forward line. These tactical changes prooved to be the winning of the game with Town keeping alot better shape and playing like men possessed. Morgan Beirne who had also switched from centre back to mid field, with John Hagan going the other way, was a constant thorn for the Kilmore team around the middle. Shaggy picked up numerous breaking ball and was winning the ugly ball. In fact John Hagan did an outstanding job at centre back expertly man marking Kilmores dangerous centre forward.
With a greater amount of posession and more urgency Town began to bite away at the Kilmore lead with scores coming from John Rogers, Rory Molloy and Seamus Collins. Kilmore tagged on a couple of scores to retake the lead but back came the black and amber, with Matty Colum catching some great ball in the middle of the park and allowing the forward line gain the ball and draw the fouls which John Rogers converted.
With the sides tied with 5 minutes to play it was Strokestown who found that little bit more to carve out a victory. First Paddy Broagn, who had a stormer at corner forward, sent over a superb point with the outside of his boot and John Rogers sealed the win with a free from the 21. The game ended with Kilmore searching for the 3 pointer but the Town backline held firm dealing fantastically with all the high ball that was thrown their way.

Team: John McHugh, Johnny Dolan, Ciarán O'Reilly, Paul McLoughlin, Daniel Rogers, Morgan Beirne, Emmet Collins, John Hagan, Seamus Collins (0-1), Matty Colum, Niall Broagn, Rory Molloy(0-1), John Rogers (0-7), Conor Silke (0-3), David Parker.
Subs: Damian Caslin for Johnny Dolan, Paddy Broagn (0-1) for David Parker, Ronan Owens for Emmet Collins.