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KELLY CUP - O'Dempsey's ease into final

It hadn't started too badly for the home side, as Michael Clancy put them a point up early on courtesy of a free. Brian Nugent responded with a well taken point off the outside of his boot from the right wing, before Michael Finlay opened his account for the day with a fine long range point.

The first warning signs for The Heath appeared eight minutes in, when Stephen O'Leary was put through on goal, but his attempt to dink the ball over JP Nerney went just over the bar for a point.

When The Heath missed two good chances to strike back, through a Clancy free and a Luke Hyland effort from play, O'Dempsey's really punished them. Finlay struck two more points either side of a Stephen O'Leary effort before Rory Bracken ran straight through The Heath defence for his first point of the day.

Clancy finally responded for The Heath with a free, but it was only a short respite as O'Dempsey's killed the game off before half time. Stephen O'Leary, a threat throughout the first half, was played in for a goal chance once again and made no mistake this time, before Rory Bracken's wonderful shot from 20 yards out flew into the top corner.

Those goals left the score at 2-7 to 0-2, and really there didn't look like being any way back from that for The Heath.

They made a couple of changes at half time but they failed to have the desired effect, as misplaced passes and indeed over-passing at times, let them down. O'Dempsey's, while not as prolific as in the first half, were still impressive in the second period, and further points from O'Leary, Michael Finlay and Darren Finlay wrapped up an impressive 10 point victory.

SCORERS - O'Dempsey's: Stephen O'Leary 1-4, Michael Finlay 0-4, Rory Bracken 1-1, Darren Finlay, Barry Kelly (free), Brian Nugent 0-1 each; The Heath: Michael Clancy 0-4 (all frees), Aidan Bergin 0-2 (one free), Colin Nestor, Cathal Whelan 0-1 each

O'DEMSPEY'S: Padraig Bannon; Thomas Finlay, JJ O'Connell, Nigel Delaney; Liam Finlay, Brian Meredith, JP Kehoe; Rory Bracken, Darren Finlay; Barry Kelly, Stephen O'Leary, Tom Slevin; Michael Finlay, Paddy Hyland, Brian Nugent. Subs: Mark McCormack for Slevin (41 mins), Frank Finn for Bannon (49 mins), Ross Behan for T Finlay (49 mins), Adrian Slevin for M Finlay (50 mins), Brian Behan for D Finlay (60 mins)

THE HEATH: JP Nerney; Bryan Delaney, Alan Dowling, Gary Smith; Tony Connolly, Eoin Delaney, Sean Ryan; Seamus Mulhare, Colin Nestor; Luke Hyland, Aidan Bergin, Conor Bergin; Michael Clancy, Jimmy Nerney, Jimmy McNamee. Subs: Cathal Whelan for McNamee (half time), Kieran Hyland for Jimmy Nerney (half time), Padraig Whelan for C Bergin (41 mins), Gary Hogan for Ryan (50 mins), Eoin Keane for A Bergin (51 mins)

Referee: Eamon Strong (Emo)

Published Date: 17 March 2010
By Rory Delaney for The Leinster Express