Report by Martina Donnellan. Having lost their two opening games to Ardrahan and Abbeyknockmoy, this was always going to be an uphill battle for the young Pearses army who had to field without stalwarts Brian Kelly andamp;amp; Cian Murphy as Kilconieron hit the ground running and were devastating in front of their home support. The game was only minutes old by the time the life was sucked out of the Pearses lads as No. 11 for Kilconieron ran riot.
The home side had 1-3 clocked before David Hillary got Pearses off the mark with a great effort from distance from adjacent to the sideline. No. 11 scored 3 more points from play before Luke Mitchell converted a free after he himself was dragged to the ground by two Kilconieron players. No. 11 converted a free and another from play to have them in the driving seat by 19mins as they were 1-7 to 0-2 in charge.
The hosts scored another 1-2, their goal coming from No.11 who was left unmarked on the edge of the square while No. 10 tapped over the 2 points. Ethan Lally tapped over Pearses 3rd point after a David Hillary long range free was delivered into the square which Darragh Roche worked hard to keep before spraying out to Ethan Lally as he scored the first of his 2-1 tally. No.11 tapped over another point for the green shirts from out near the sideline just on the stroke of half time to leave Pearses trailing 2-11 to 0-3 at the break.
Ethan Lally offered Pearses a mini lifeline 3mins into the 2nd half after good work from David Hillary in midfield who found Luke Mitchell and as Mitchell was dragged to the ground, Ethan Lally cracked the resultant close-in free to the net. Kilconieron responded with 5 points, 4 from play, before Ethan Lally goaled again after he latched onto a ball broke by Mark Donnellan.
It was false hope for the visiting supporters though as straight up the other end Kilconieron responded with their 3rd goal. Orin Burke replied with a point for Pearses after Ethan Lally found him unmarked. Kilconieron scored another 5 successive points before the final point of the game came from a long range effort from Conor Moran. It was an evening the young Pearses lads would rather forget as Kilconieron were in superb form with their scoring mojo in fantastic form.
Pearses scorers: Ethan Lally 2-1 (1-0F); David Hillary 0-1; Orin Burke 0-1; Conor Moran 0-1; Luke Mitchell 0-1F
Panel: Harry Mitchell, Conor Kelly, Niall McDonagh, Robert Fahy, Oisin Donoghue, Robert Hynes, Paddy Kenny, Orin Burke, Luke Mitchell, Conor Moran, Ethan Lally, Peter O’Neill, Darragh Roche, David Hillary, Jack Reilly, Oliver Laheen, Mark Donnellan, Cormac Hillary, Eanna Cunniffe, Ronan Hynes.