Classy Colbert stars as The Rock advance to semi-finals

Laois JFC Quarter Final 

The Rock 3-15 

Killeshin 2-4 

THE Rock are through to the Laois Shopping Centre JFC semi-final after beating Killeshin by 14 points in The Rock on Sunday afternoon.

The score line doesn't do Killeshin justice as they were right in it with ten minutes to play, but The Rock did show an extra bit of class to pull away in the end, in that period Killeshin were reduced to 14 men with Kealum Hand getting a red card for a black and yellow card.

In a first half that will be forgotten with both sides unable to breakdown their opponents defences and when they did, their shooting was wasteful.

The Rock opened up the scoring through Aaron Dowling with a good effort from play, it was followed up by another point through Eli Colbert to give The Rock an early advantage.

Killeshin then went into the lead with a goal from Chris Fitzgearld after finishing well. The home side had a good bit of the ball and would get the next three points.

The first from Jack Pedro and the next was a two pointer from Sean O'Neil to open a two point gap.

Kaelum Hand got the last score of the half through a free, but he was black carded before the break after pulling down Jake Colbert as the scores were 0-5 to 1-1 at half time.

Eli Colbert opened the scoring up in the second half with a point, and soon later The Rock hit their first goal. Sean O'Neil ran at the heart of the defence and blasted the ball into the top corner.

He then followed that up with a point to giving Killeshin a mountain to climb. Dylan Cronin then added another point to open up a seven-point lead.

Killeshin then got in control of the game as the momentum swung their way. First Chris Fitzgearld would get a two pointer while sub - Sean Barr added another point.

Fitzgearld then turned provider with a long ball into the square where Brian Lowry got a flick to send the ball into the net to leave it at 1-8 to 2-4 with ten minutes left and it was all to play for.

The goal seemed to spark the home side into life and kicked on from there. Eli Corbet came to life in the last ten minutes, and his contribution secured the win.

He kicked two points in a row from play, then he would get the second goal for The Rock to halt the comeback from Killeshin.

Disaster then struck for Killeshin after Kaelum Hand was sent off for a second yellow card with seven minutes left on the clock.

The victors kicked four more points through Conor Flynn, a brace from Colbert and a point from Stephen Conroy to put The Rock in full control.

Cian O'Neill added another point, before sub - Fionn Kirwan put the icing on the cake with a third goal as The Rock ran out winners.

SCORERS:

The Rock: Eli Colbert 1-6, Sean O'Neil 1-3 (1tp, 0-1f), Fionn Kirwan 1-0, Aaron Dowling, Jack Pedro, Dylan Cronin, Conor Flynn, Stephen Conroy and Cian O'Neil 0-1 each.

Killeshin: Chris Fitzgearld 1-2 (1tp), Brian Lowry 1-0, Sean Barr and Kaelum Hand (f) 0-1 each THE ROCK: Conor Allen; Ben Carroll, James McDonald, Brian Conlon; Conor Flynn, Niall Dunne, Jake Colbert; Dylan Cronin, Cian O'Neil; Sean O'Neil, Anavil Storey, Jack Pedro; Eli Colbert, Aaron Dowling, Stephen Conroy.

Subs: Fionn Kirwan for Dowling (45m), Evan Dempsey for Pedro (58m), David Fitzpatrick for Cronin (58m).

KILLESHIN: Ben Fitzgearld; Danny Malone, Jeremy Mahon, Pauric Mahon; Evan Galligan, Simon Attride, Chris Fitzgearld; Arnie Mahon, Killian McCutcheon; Eoin Fitzpatrick, Kaelum Hand, David Mahon; Rioghan Doran, Daniel McGrath, Kieran Fitzgearld.

Subs: Brian Lowry for D Mahon (39m), Sean Barr for McGrath (40m), David Mahon for Doran (52m).

Referee: Clifford Ward (Portarlington)