Stradbally stay perfect in Division 1 after 11-point victory

Stradbally 1-19 Arles Killeen 2-5 STRADBALLY have maintained their 100% record in Division 1 with an 11-point win over Arles Killeen in Stradbally on Friday night.

The home side came out a different beast at the start of the second half and would kick six points in the space of seven minutes which was the winning of the game.

Donie Kingston was at his very best once again for Killeen but his two second goals in the second half weren’t enough as Stradbally were finding scores that bit easier.

Oisin Byrne who was brilliant in the first half opened the scoring with a brilliant point. Byrne would then point his second to give Arles Killeen the lead, but it was short lived.

Stradbally would respond to Byrne's points by adding the first goal of the game where Benny Lawlor finished brilliantly to give Stradbally the lead that they didn't lose.

Kingston would respond for Killeen after fielding a brilliant mark which ended in a point to keep Killeen in the game Damien Murphy and Lawlor added two more points to push the lead out to three points 1-3 to 0-3.

In the next attack Killeen were unlucky not to hit the net as Oisin Byrne ran at the defence and unleashed a shot that hit the inside of the post and then hit the other post and was cleared by the Stradbally defenders.

Conor Buggie then got on the scoresheet for Stradbally, but Byrne replied with two more points as half time was around the corner.

Colm Begley would kick the last two points to give Stradbally a 1-6 to 0-5 lead at the break.

Stradbally came out flying and started to move the ball that bit quicker which resulted in six points in a row. Damien Murphy, David Dineen who hit three in that period, while Begley and Joe Larkin would get the other scores.

The away side then started to go route one into Donie Kingston and it resulted in Killeen's first goal. Jack Larkin had saved a Kingston shot but the latter found the net with the rebound to leave the scores at 1-12 to 1-5 with 19 minutes remaining.

Stradbally settled again and hit three more points through a brace of frees from Lawlor and Eoin Buggie landed the third.

Killeen then got their second goal via the same route as Kingston held off two or three defenders and found the net to reduce the gap to seven points with eight minutes remaining.

It was to be Killeen's last score of the game as Stradbally kicked on once more. Two from Lawlor, while subs Cillian Maher and David Donohue finished off the scoring as Stradbally move to top of Division 1.

SCORERS:

Stradbally: Benny Lawlor 1-6 (0-2fs), Colm Begley and David Dineen 0-3 each, Damien Murphy 0-2, Conor Buggie, Joe Larkin, Eoin Buggie, Cillian Maher and David Donohue 0-1 each.

Arles Killeen: Donie Kingston 2-1 (0-1 mark), Oisin Byrne 0-4 (0-2fs).

STRADBALLY: Jack Larkin; Sean Maher, Liam Knowles, Eamonn Delaney; Eoin Buggie, James Devoy, Ben Dillon; Joe Larkin, Conor Goode; Conor Buggie, Colm Begley, Damien Murphy; Fionn McEvoy, David Dineen, Benny Lawlor.

Subs: Jody Dillon for McEvoy (41m), David Donohue for Conor Buggie (41m), Cillian Maher for Murphy (52m), Conor McDonald for Devoy (59m), Jack Langton for B Dillon (59m).

Arles Killeen: Jason Enright; Andrew Wall, Dermot Julian, Enda O'Rourke; Michael Wall, John Mahon, Ben Griffin; Oisin Byrne, Conor Keightley; Niall O'Rourke, Sean O'Shea, Kevin Lambe; Michael Doheny, Donie Kingston, Shane Byrne.

Subs: Cian Knowles for Lambe (38m), Daire Eyres for Doheny (38m).

Referee: Eamonn O'Connell (Courtwood)