It’s a long time since a Kells adult team played a competitive game at home in Pairc Colmcille and Gaeil Colmcille Premier Division 7 side were hoping to continue their good form when they welcomed Kilbride to Kells.
The game took place in near perfect conditions and Fionn Smith opened the scoring with a point from play after 3 minutes. It took Kilbride 2 minutes to equalise but the Kells response was swift as Sean Cleary and Shane Bennett pointed before Brian Byrne converted a 45. At this stage the Gaeils half back line were beginning to dominate their opponents as excellent link up play by Niall Williams and Robbie Fox, along with surging runs from Finn Mullen were creating numerous scoring chances. Alex Williams scored one of the chances, and Gary McGovern added three more, two from play and one free.
Despite what the score line might suggest, Kells were not having things all their own way but were finding scores easier. Fionn Smith got his second of the game and Zak Griffin quickly followed up with his first. Kilbride were eventually rewarded for all their efforts with one from play just before referee Peter Skelly blew the half time whistle.
The scoring continued for Kells at the start of the second half as Williams and McGovern added a point each to their tallies. Kilbride pushed forward and saw an attempt come off the post and kicked another wide after good pressure from the Gaeils full back line. Substitute Kevin Carpenter was next on the scoresheet when he split the posts on 11 minutes and he got his second just 3 minutes later just after Kilbride got their only point of the second half.
Kells failed to score over the next 8 minutes, hitting 4 wides before Stephen Mooney got on to the end of good move to finish to the back of the net. Zak Griffin rounded off the scoring when he tipped over the final point. As the game drew to a close Kilbride had the opportunity for a consolation goal when they were awarded a penalty. Chris Doyle had other ideas though, getting down low to his right with a superb save in the last action of the evening.
Gaeil Colmcille: Chris Doyle, Mark Gormley, Brian Byrne (0-01), Max Finlay, Robbie Fox, Niall Williams, Finn Mullen, Fionn Smith (0-02), Sean Cleary (0-01), Cormac O’Reilly, Shane Bennett (0-01), Eoin Doogan, Alex Williams (0-02), Gary McGovern (0-04), Zak Griffin (0-02).
Subs: Ben Shine, Kevin Carpenter (0-02), Kristupas Vitkauskas, Stephen Mooney (1-00), Conor Murray, Cian Donlon, Conal Gormley, Phelim Dunne.
