Palatine remain in hunt for semi-final spot
Mark Buggy again caught the eye with an impressive performance for Palatine
Palatine survived a mini-comeback from rank outsiders, Grange, in this Senior Football Championship fourth round tie at Netwatch Cullen Park on Sunday.
The eventual winners asserted themselves early with Mark Buggy firing over a two pointer on two minutes. Aidan Burrows replied with a Grange point but they were found guilty of the breach rule and Shane O’Neill converted a simple free. The same player subsequently converted a two-point free as Palatine looked set to pull away.
A John Murphy two-pointer from play kept Grange in touch but gradually Palatine did put distance between the sides with Conor Crowley, O’Neill and Ciaran Moran (two-pointer) picking off scores which saw the Bennekerry side lead 0-12 to 0-5 at the change of ends.
The second half only came to life in the final quarter when it looked as if Palatine, ahead 1-16 to 0-9 had done enough. Josh Egan scored the only goal when his shot to the bottom right hand corner left the otherwise solid Grange goalkeeper, Louis Kilcoyne without a chance.
After that, Grange enjoyed the better of the exchanges with Murphy finding the posts with a brace of two-point frees. Palatine found themselves under siege and almost conceded a goal. A Ned Pender point for Grange left only five points between them. To his disappointment Murphy saw two of his efforts from outside the arc tail just left and wide. It could have been tighter at the end but Palatine deserved their victory.
S O’Neill (1-2pf f), M Buggy (1-2p) 0-4 each, B Cassidy 0-3, J Egan 1-0, C Crowley, C Moran (1-2p) 0-2 each, T Kenny 0-1.
J Murphy 0-6 (1-2p, 2-2pfs), P Hickey (1-2p), A Burrows (1-2p) 0-3 each, D Burrows, N Pender 0-1 each.
Craig Kearney; Gavin Healy, Cian Cashman, Sean Walsh; Tomás Kenny, Ciaran Moran, Jack Deacy; Brandon Cassidy, Sam McHugh; Josh Egan, Shane O’Neill, Bryan McMahon; Eoin Ryan, Conor Crowley, Mark Buggy.
Subs: Darragh Fitzpatrick for McHugh (47), Andrew Kehoe for Buggy (47), James Cranny for Ryan (57), Jamie Kenny for O’Neill (59).
Louis Kilcoyne; James Hickey, Matthew Bird, Tom Dillon; Vijay Egharevba, Paddy Nolan, Pat Murphy; Paddy Hickey, Cillian Murphy; Aidan Burrows, Ned Pender, Conor Nolan; Shane Cormican, John Murphy, Darragh Burrows.
Subs: Tadhg Walsh for J Hickey (47), Jack Byrne for D Burrows (62).
David Hickey (Fenagh).
