Kilcar 1-16
Scotstown 1-6
Orla Bannon reports from Clones
PADDY MCBREARTY WAS the star turn of Kilcar’s shock Ulster club triumph over hot favourites Scotstown at Clones.
The Donegal forward, who’s nominated for an All Star this year, has had an incredible 2017 and hitting eight points to set up a mouth-watering Ulster SFC semi-final showdown with holders Slaughtneil.
Scotstown are three-in-a-row Monaghan champions and had plenty of experience at this level and they got an early goal by Conor McCarthy to set them on their way.
Maybe the goal came too soon because after the opening 10 minutes, they were torn apart, succumbing to a McBrearty masterclass.
He nailed 0-7 in the first half with Ryan McHugh also growing in influence as the game wore on, finishing with a five-point haul.
McCarthy’s well-taken goal came after just four minutes.
Kieran Hughes won the kickout, launched it in towards McCarthy in the corner who cut inside onto his left and buried it past Eamonn McGinley.
Ross McKenna’s lucky bounce over the bar made it 1-1 to 0-1 after 10 minutes – but in the next 20 minutes they went from three points up to seven points down.
McBrearty turned into a one-man wrecking ball on a Scotstown defence that was ill-equipped to deal with him.
He scored seven first-half points, including four from play, several of them from close to the sideline.
Everything he hit seemed to split the uprights with just one errant shot dropping wide.
They drew level with a close-range point from his younger brother Stephen, at 1-3 to 0-6 in the 20th minute.
A couple of minutes Eoin McHugh got on the end of a move straight off the training ground for a Kilcar goal.
Ryan McHugh took a short free to Paddy McBrearty rushing out with his back to goal, he popped the ball into the chest of Eoin McHugh who darted through the gap and drilled the ball low into the far corner.
Scotstown were getting turned over and losing kickouts with Mark McHugh picking up a lot of breaks around the middle.
He set up his brother Ryan for an easy score who then added a quick second, shifting easily onto his right foot under no pressure, to make it 1-10 to 1-3 at the break.
Scotstown briefly threatened a comeback just after the break with McCarthy and McKenna adding their second points but from there, Kilcar bossed it and killed the game.
Ciaran McGinley and evergreen retired Donegal player Michael Hegarty nailed points to keep the scoreboard ticking over while Scotstown raided for goals, with no success.
Kilcar shut the game down in a low-key final quarter, Ryan McHugh hitting the last three points of a convincing victory.
Scorers for Scotstown – C McCarthy 1-02, R McKenna 0-02, S Carey 0-01, R Beggan 0-01 (f)
Scorers for Kilcar – P McBrearty 0-08 (4f), R McHugh 0-05 (2f), E McHugh 1-00, S McBrearty 0-01, M Hegarty 0-01, C McGinley 0-01
Scotstown
1 Rory Beggan
3 William Carroll
4 Sean Mohan
2 Fergal McPhillips
5 Donal Morgan
6 Damien McArdle
7 Emmett Caulfield
8 Frank Caulfield
9 Kieran Hughes
10 James Hamill
11 Shane Carey
22 Ross McKenna
30 Paul Sherlock
14 Darren Hughes
15 Conor McCarthy
Substitutes:
12 Dermot McCrudden for Hamill (40)
13 Orin Heaphy for McKenna (BC, 43)
23 Michael McCarville for Carey (57)
Kilcar
1 Eamonn McGinley
2 Barry McGinley
3 Conor McShane
4 Pauric Carr
6 Michael Hegarty
5 Ryan McHugh
7 Barry Shovlin
8 Ciaran McGinley
9 Mark McHugh
17 Andrew McClean
11 Eoin McHugh
12 Conor Doherty
13 Stephen Shovlin
14 Patrick McBrearty
15 Stephen McBrearty
Substitutes:
10 Matthew McClean for Doherty (41)
18 Mark Sweeney for A McClean (51)
19 Ashley Carr for S McBrearty (55)
16 Aodhan McGinley for P McBrearty (60)
Referee: Ciaran Branagan (Down)
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Elsewhere in the Ulster club SFC quarter-finals, Cavan Gaels were 1-19 to 0-10 winners over Lamh Dhearg at Kingspan Breffni Park.
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Against this huge Fiji team I think it’s fair to say that everyone on the bench will get a game
@Niall Cunneen: this will be quite close id say
I hope McCloskey will be a mainstay in the squad after this month
@Shcoop: I bet he won’t do whatever he was told not to do in his last game.
Have to say the technique on the bag hit is all wrong
Head across body , asking for a concussion
Sorry , pedantic I know
@Tony O Dwyer: I don’t think they’re doing tackle practice there…
@Tony O Dwyer: Chris Farrell should be holding that tackle pad. I’d have both McCloskey and Farrell hitting the forwards’ pads.
@Tony O Dwyer: Good point! He won’t want Joe seeing that photo. It always annoys me seeing pro players do it. The worst one I ever saw was Leigh Halfpenny getting knocked out for refusing to tackle with his left shoulder against Italy. What’s even worse is that he still won’t tackle with his left shoulder to this day!
@Conor Paddington: It’s still asking for injury. We all know that McCloskey is going to win a physical contest with Carbery in training but if it’s a game and he doesn’t, he risks serious injury. He is also taking most of the power out of his cleanout by having his neck in front of the man.
@Tony O Dwyer: It’s a rucking drill.
@EK: it’s not asking for injury if he’s not practicing his tackling.
@Gary: Correct, it’s a rucking drill and the height of Carbery’s feet off the ground suggests that McCloskey hit the pad low and then lifted his mate which is the proper rucking technique.
@Conor Paddington: How wonderfully disingenuous of you to ignore my second point. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that whatever drill McCloskey does, whether it’s tackling or rucking, should be practiced with perfect technique to prepare him for game situations. Otherwise he’s practicing a mistake.
This isn’t a witchhunt, just an attempt from a coach to preach the virtues of good habits in training. Unless of course Conor Paddington is an alias for Allen Iverson then…..it’s just practice man.
@EK: I would like the record to state that I am not disingenuous, just lazy. I didn’t read that far. Sorry. That said, we still don’t know what the drill is, my initial point stands. But as you said, it’s a bad angle if he is clearing out.
@Conor Paddington: Fair enough and point taken.
@Tom Reilly: Agreed but the purpose seems to be to unbalance the ball carrier for either a second to secure possession.
Murray might be on gardening leave mariahh
@Range Rover: Carey?