DERRY SFC: Kilrea give defensive masterclass to defeat toothless Steelstown

Kilrea 1-12, Steelstown 0-9

At rain lashed Find Insurance Owenbeg on Thursday, a well drilled Kilrea team showed that it is still possible to defend in numbers to deservedly progressed to the last eight of the O’Neill’s Senior Football Championship at the expense of a disappointingly toothless Steelstown.

They shackled the Brain Ogs attack to such an extent that none of the men in blue got a score from play. Laurence Strain’s team had entered the game as favourites but for much of the evening they were second best all over the field.

The city club played into Kilrea hands by playing too much hand passing football that, at times, saw them end up 30 or 40 metres further way from the goals than where the move had initially started.

But the Kilrea defence were also excellent in their tackling and covering. The Pearses won a number of turnovers as the Brian Og’s were unable to break through a bank of Kilrea defenders. The prime example came in the opening exchanges of the game. For just over four minutes Steelstown held possession with a string of hand passes but never got shot off. They fell into the Kilrea trap and lost possession. Three kicks of the ball later, the last one by half-back Gearoid McLaughlin, saw the ball flying past Marty Dunne and into the Foreglen Road end net.

Did the Brian Og’s learn from that? No. They just carried on recycling the ball to no great effect, their slow build up play consistently allowing Jude Donnelly’s men to get back and set up roadblocks.

Kilrea shadowed Steelstown danger man Cahir McMonagle with one defender behind him and another in front. Steelstown tried to work the ball in but never once dropped a ball into the Kilrea goal area. In a sense McMonagle, who still ended up the game’s top scorer, was stranded on a desert island. Steelstown did have some good spells but not enough. They went long stretches of the game without getting a score and when they did trouble the umpires it was only in quick bursts. Their four first half points came via McMonagle, in the 12th and 14th minutes, and Baker in the 18th and 20th minutes.

Kilrea, despite their overloaded defence, were far more adventurous and not afraid to have a go when the opportunity presented itself. Not all efforts were on target for if they had been, their winning margin could well have been doubled.

The surprising thing about the Steelstown display was that they persisted with the short game and rarely had a go from distance. When they did, Ryan Devine hit a two pointer. Unfortunately for the big hearted midfielder, he had another double and that was two yellow cards.

Kilrea had more players who could carry the ball at pace and take a score. Half-back Daniel Madden and half forward Cathair O’Neill both picked off three points in that fashion.

After Gearoid O’Neill had hit the only goal of the game, Kilrea pressed on to lead by five with points from Daniel Madden and a Larry Kielt free. Donncha Gilmore had seen a long range goal effort saved by Aiden Gillen before the Brian Og’s hit back with two frees from McMonagle. Conor Gillen then missed an easy looking free for Kilrea after a foul on Tommy Rogers.

Indeed, following that brace in quick succession from Steelstown’s best player on the night, Diarmuid Baker, it looked as if the city boys were on track to get a real grip on matters but it proved a false dawn. Kilrea bossed the last 10 minutes of the half with two in quick succession from Bradley. In added time Kielt converted another free and Conor Gillen followed quickly to give Kilrea what looked a handsome 1-6 to 0-4 half-time lead in the worsening conditions.

If the Steelstown fans expected their team to go direct in the second half, they were sadly mistaken. It was back to the old routine. A great run by the impressive Kevin Quinn set up Rory Maguire but the cross was a bit too high and he punched the ball wide.

The impressive Daniel Madden then hit two quick points with a Conor Gillen free making it seven unanswered and leaving the score 1-10 to 0-4. Devine’s two-pointer gave Steelstown a bit of hope but by now both teams were beginning to feel the strain and tire.

After a 10 minute blank spell Cathair Bradley scored a fine individual point but Kilrea began coughing up frees which saw McMonagle hit a single, a double and a single to leave the score 1-11 to 0-9 but there was never any real danger of Kilrea slipping up. In added time substitute James Kielt had the final say from a straightforward free.

Kilrea scorers: Gearoid McLaughlin (1-0), Daniel Madden and Cathair Bradley (0-3) each, Conor Gillen (0-3,1f), Larry Kielt (0-2f) James Kielt (0-1f).

Steelstown scorers: Cahir McMonagle (0-5tp)Ryan Devine (2pt), Diarmuid Baker (0-2).

Kilrea: Aden Gillen, Odhran McLarnon, Eunan McCamphill, Odhran Rafferty, Daniel Madden, Johno Hardy, Gearoid McLaughlin, Kevin Quinn, Larry Kielt, James Gillen, Cathair Bradley, Tommy Rogers, PJ McAleese, Conor Gillen, Rory Maguire. (Subs) James Kielt for L Kielt(48), Setanta McLaughlin for J Gillen (50), Ruairi McCamphill for C Gillen (55).

Steelstown: Marty Dunne, Eoghan Concannon, Aidan McLaughlin, Odhran Campbell, Ronan Canavan, Diarmuid Baker, Donnchea Gilmore, Ryan Devine, Karl Doherty, Ben McCarron, Dan McAteer, Neil Forester, Cahir McMonagle, Callum Deery. (Subs) Eoin Canavan for C McGuinness (42) and Ellis Deery for K Doherty (48).

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Bellaghy).