Fulham Irish 0-11 – St Kiernans 0-7 2 July 2019
Senior Football Division 1
2 July 2019
Fulham Irish secured another 2 league points after a gritty second half performance saw them battle to a 4 point victory over St Kiernan's at a blustery Scrubs. Kiernans dominated the early stages of the game with points from Adrian Molyes and Thomas Waters and things were looking bleak for Fulham by the 10 minute when Moyles added his second point of the evening after a very incisive attack straight from their own kickout.
Fulham’s attack was ponderous and repeatedly floundered on the well drilled Kiernans defence with easy turnovers and misplaced passes all too common. Moyles added a further free before Liam Staunton got Fulham off the mark in the 18 minute with a well struck free. The remainder of the half was forgettable stuff with Fulham’s running game not yielding much by way of opportunity and Kiernans happy to stretch the Fulham rear-guard with Barry Tully and Peter Finn particularly lively for the visitors. Mark Mulholland for Kiernans and a second Staunton free left the half time score 0-5 to 0-2 in favour of St Kiernans.
The second half started much in the same manner as the first had ended but some quick thinking by Liam Staunton in the 4 minute saw him pick up a quickly taken 45 to drill over his third point and Fulham’s first from play. Moyles responded with a free for Kiernans but it would be another 20 minutes before they would add to their tally as Fulham started to impose themselves on the game.
A much more sold defensive effort and ambitious running from deep by Paddy Naughton and Ronan Sloan carried the fight to Kiernans and with Michael Murphy, David O Connor and Lorcan Mulvey getting more possession Fulham chipped away at the score board with further points from Staunton and a fine score form Mulvey in the 21 minute after excellent set up play involving Naughton and O Connor, put Fulham 2 points up with time ebbing away.
As confidence levels rose and with the cushion of the lead Fulham played a more patient possession game, defended stoutly and ultimately closed the game out, their final point an artful long range effort from Liam O Sullivan to put the game out of reach, despite Kiernans’ valiant late storming of the Fulham goal which saw then hit the upright in the final minute. Not a classic by any means but plenty of positives to be taken from the second half for Fulham, whilst St Kiernans will no doubt regroup for the championship encounter later in the year.
Report by Brendan Dolan
Fulham Irish 3-11 St Kiernans 2-10
Conway Cup semi-final
4 June 2019
Fulham Irish qualified for their first final of the year after a hard fought battle against St Kiernans at Scrubs.
Both sides fielded strong teams and Fulham, playing against the breeze, got off to an ideal start when David Givney crashed the ball to the net after 3 minutes.
They continued to dominate the early exchanges with points in quick succession from Liam Turley and Liam Staunton before St Kiernans got off the mark in the 11th minute with a long range point from play.
This spurred the north London men into life and they took a foothold in the game, picking off 3 further points while defending deep in numbers and frustrating the Fulham attack.
A marauding run from Fulham’s midfielder Anton McArdle in the 25th minute was rewarded with a fisted point and Fulham ended the half in the ascendancy with points from Shane Duffy and a brace from Staunton to leave them ahead at the break 1-7 to 0-4.
St Kiernans notched the first point of the second half, but in the third minute they were kept alive in the contest by a superb save from their net-minder, denying Liam Turley who had been set up by a sumptuous through ball from Givney which carved open the Kiernans massed defence.
Fulham failed to capitalise on this early pressure and St Kiernans assuredly chipped away at the lead while holding the Fulham attack at bay.
A Kiernans goal in the 21st minute left the minimum between the sides and with Fulham shipping water, Anton McArdle curled over a booming long range effort to put some daylight between the sides.
This ignited another purple patch for Fulham with a further McArdle point and goals from Michael Murphy and a second for Givney within 60 seconds putting Fulham firmly back in the driving seat.
Kiernans refused to throw in the towel and goaled again on 30 mins, but a Staunton point completed the scoring for Fulham and they held on to close the game out 3-11 to 2-10.
Overall a good competitive contest between two capable and committed teams that will see more of each other at the business end of the season.
Fulham Irish: Jonathan Tavey, Paddy Naughton, Conor Hyde, Marc Cunningham, Ronan Sloan, Hurl Dockry, Shane Duffy (0-1), David O Connor, Anton McArdle (0-3), Liam Turley (0-2), Liam Staunton (0-5), PJ Rogers, Brian Sheanon, Michael Murphy (1-0), David Givney (2-0). Subs: David Connern for Rogers, Michael Walsh for Cunningham, Conor Patton for Turley, John Gilfedder for Sheanon, Tom Kelly for Givney, Shane McWeeney for Dockry
