A mere 24 hours after winning the Offaly senior hurling title, Seir Kieran were back on the march again yesterday as they advanced to the semi-final of the Leinster club championship following a nine-points win over Kilteegan from Wicklow at Arklow.
Kilteegan, however, proved to be a match for their opponents in the opening half and their gutsy display justified the level scoreline at the break. The Offaly champions, realising that they had a battle on their hands, upped the tempo of their game after the restart and two goals in the space of five minutes killed off the Kilteegan challenge.
On 33 minutes centre forward Michael Coughlan raced through before kicking to the net and five minutes later Billy Dooley, one of five brothers who played for Seir Kieran in this match, rammed home the second goal.
The Dooley brothers made a huge contribution to their side's victory. Joe Dooley at midfield scored two points before he had to leave the field injured in the second half; Billy Dooley accounted for 1-1, wing forward Johnny Dooley scored 0-5 and substitute T J Dooley added a point.
At midfield Nigel Byrne had a fine game for Kilteegan, being responsible for six of their points; while their goalkeeper, Tony Kelly, got the man-of-the-match award after his marvellous save in the first half.
Seir Kieran: L Coughlan; P Scully, K Kennahan, P Connors; D Murphy, G Connors, J Coakley; Joe Dooley (0-2), J Guinan; Johnny Dooley (0-5), M Coughlan (1-2), K Dooley; B Dooley (1-1), S Dooley, F O'Neill. Subs: E Coughlan (0-1) for S Dooley; T J Dooley (0-1) for Joe Dooley; K Kealy for J Guinan.
Kilteegan: T Kelly; Lar Byrne, T Byrne, D Hayes; Lorcan Byrne, K O'Keeffe, G Wynne; C O'Toole, N Byrne (0-6); J Doyle (0-1), J O'Toole (0-1), G Bermingham; N Cremin, S Byrne, J Keogh (0-1). Subs: T Cremin for J Doyle; N Bermingham for G Wynne. Referee: A Mac Suibhne (Dublin).
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