Storm Darragh perfect for Kilmore

Storm Darragh perfect for Kilmore

11 December 2024

KILMORE Rec showed Storm Darragh who’s boss as they swept Woodvale aside to reach the second round of the Clarence Cup on Saturday.

The mighty storm may have been flexing its muscles as it derailed sport across the country, but it was Rec who blew their visitors away as they soared to victory.

First half goals from Yaroslav Panfilov, Jack Larkin and Eoin McGrattan put them out of reach, before new signing Conor McCarron rubber-stamped their place in the next round.

The Blues sit two divisions above 1C side Woodvale and did not take long to highlight their superiority when Panfilov opened the scoring after just four minutes of play.

The centre-half has shown himself to be an absolute Rolls Royce at the back this season but this time he showcased his ability at the other end to fire home from Joseph Burns’ corner.

Woodvale knew they were going to be up against it all afternoon and while they just could not get going in the early stages, Kilmore took full control.

The hosts were encouraged by their early goal and with the momentum well and truly on their side, they doubled their lead mere minutes later.

John Mahoney’s corner caused a scramble in the box and captain Larkin found himself in the right place, at the right time, to power his header past goalkeeper Thomas Winstone.

A two-goal lead can often be dangerous, but Rec were high on confidence and showed no signs off sitting back and admiring their early work.

They had widened the margin by the 12th minute and Larkin was showing himself to be a real Captain Marvel, this time turning provider.

He leapt above the rest to knock the ball into the path of McGrattan, who slipped away from his marker and headed his side out of sight.

Three goals were seemingly not enough to satisfy Kilmore and Michael Carville displayed a touch of class when he dinked a clever pass over the defence to find Rhys Clarke.

The winger found himself in acres of space and with only the ‘keeper to beat he was denied by the feet of Winstone.

Woodvale’s back four eventually got their act together and successfully smothered the home attack for the remainder of the half, showing quite the contrast from the opening 20 minutes.

Kilmore’s mentality did not change in the second half and they immediately began to put the opposition defenders through their paces once more.

McCarron, who had transferred from Ballynagross earlier in the week, made it a debut to remember as he met the end of Shay McGrattan’s cross to open his Kilmore account in the 54th minute.

It took 64 minutes for the visitors to find their feet in the match and they really should have pulled one back when Jonathan McKee’s free header was stopped by Rec ‘keeper Christopher Turley.

They came close for a second time 10 minutes later when veteran midfielder McKee beat Turley to the ball in the box, turned inside and laid the ball off to Curtis Black.

The substitute directed an effort towards goal and was left in disbelief as that man Panfilov raced into position to block the shot on the line.

The Blues may have been lucky not to concede in the second half, but they maintained their clean sheet with five minutes to go when Turley somehow got up towards the top corner to deny McKee with a remarkable, diving save.

Kilmore continue to fight on three fronts, sitting top of Division 1A while still in two cup competitions, and will travel to face Lisburn Rangers in the league next time out.

Kilmore: C Turley, C Magee, J Larkin (captain), Y Panfilov, J Mahoney, J Burns, M Carvill, R Clarke, E McGrattan, C McCarron, S McGrattan. Subs: S Bell, C Conlon, D McComiskey.

Woodvale: T Winstone, G Aston, A McFarland, T Dickson, S Parkinson, Luke McCausland, J McKee, B McQuiston, R Black, B Watters, C Johnston. Subs: R Bingham, C Black, P Hughes.