Enniscrone/Kilglass 1-10 Castleconnor 0-11 

Kennedys IFC Group Three

Division Two league champions Castleconnor suffered defeat in the opening round of the Kennedys Intermediate Championship when they fell to Enniscrone/Kilglass in this west Sligo derby at Tourlestrane last Sunday.

In a tight encounter, Con O’Meara’s Enniscrone/Kilglass put in a solid display to end as deserving two-point winners.

The seasiders got off to a promising start when they netted inside the opening 12 minutes of the first half with Shane Hargadon raising a green flag. This put them 1-2 to 0-1 ahead after Hargadon and Michael Moyles had pointed early on.

Castleconnor, playing with the aid of the breeze in the first half, got off the mark through Kevin Langan but struggled to gain any momentum in a first half dominated by Enniscrone/Kilglass.

Sean Carrabine battled hard for his side and kicked a couple of first half points, but his team trailed 1-6 to 0-6 at the break with Kevin Cawley and Ciaran O’Dowd finding the range for Enniscrone/Kilglass before the short whistle.

After the break the game followed a similar pattern. Castleconnor’s inaccuracy in front of goal hindered their attempt at salvaging something from the game, but they managed to draw the deficit back to a point, 1-9 to 0-11 as the game entered injury-time.

Langan and Carrabine combined to kick ten of Castleconnor’s 11 points, but Enniscrone/Kilglass kept their neighbours at arm’s length with Michael Moyles, Mark Gordon and JP Carden firing over in the second half.

As the game entered injury-time Castleconnor trailed by a single point but resolute defending from Enniscrone/Kilglass – which included a superb block from Josh Ellis when it looked as though Castleconnor may find the net – kept their advantage intact.

The game finished with Enniscrone/Kilglass getting an insurance point through Michael Moyles in the last minute to give them a valuable two-point win.

Enniscrone/Kilglass: G Regan; E Bourke, B Byron, J Ellis; K Cawley, B Coleman, T Mahon; D Mullaney, C O’Dowd (0-2); C Tuffy, B Fitzgerald, M Moyles (0-3, 1f); M Gordon (0-1), JP Carden (0-1), S Hargadon (1-2, 2fs). Subs: C Mulrooney, A Duffy, R Jacob

Castleconnor: C Gordon; R Keane, K Earlis, B Howley; P Sweeney, R Healy, J Earlis; K McDonnell, J McDonnell; A Cawley, B Howley, S Carrabine (0-4, 2fs); K Langan (0-6, 1f), P Naughton, S Curley. Subs used: M Cahill, E Kent, P Flynn, C Kilcullen.

Referee: Pat Normanly