Athy bare teeth in 15-point demolition of Baltinglass

Baltinglass 0-10 Athy 3-16

Athy secured safe passage through to the AIB Leinster Senior Club Football Championship quarter final with an impressive win over Baltinglass in Aughrim.

Despite a tight and competitive first half, the visitors pushed ahead in the third quarter and could not be caught.

Athy started the quicker of the two sides with Ronan Kelly jinking his way through for the first score of the game, with Colm Moran and Kevin Feely quickly adding further white flags.

Johnny Keogh kicking with the breeze got Baltinglass off the mark from a two-point effort in front of his side's dugout.

From here, both sides began a wasteful spell which would trickle across the opening half as Athy splurged many would-be goal chances while Baltinglass kicked a number of poor wides.

Ronan Kelly did, however, ripple the back of the Baltinglass net following good work from Niall Kelly and Conor Doyle, which allowed Kelly to palm his effort home after a fine save from Mark Jackson.

A big score for Athy, Christopher Heaslip found an immediate response for Baltinglass, but the tails were up for the Kildare men who rattled off another two points from Niall Kelly.

The Wicklow champions outscored their opponents to finish the half, thanks to a Jackson two-pointer from a free, which left the half-time score 1-07 to 0-06 in favour of Athy.

Captain David Hyland started the second period with an orange flag for Athy, which set the tone of what was to come. Minutes later, Sean Moore raced through the centre of the Baltinglass defence and palmed a pass to Niall Kelly, who looked across the box to an unmarked Ronan Kelly, who scored his second major of the game.

Jack Kirwan hit back with a superb two-pointer for the hosts, but this was as close as his side would come as the Kildare outfit powered through the gears, following up with another David Hyland score from beyond the arc

James McGrath then got on the end of a superb sweeping Athy move for another goal as Baltinglass began leaving gaps in defence as they pushed for majors.

Tommy Keogh had one such effort deflected over in response before Athy showed the power of their bench with substitutes Ben Purcell and Sean Bride landing 0-03 between them as the clock wound down.

Athy will now face Summerhill of Meath in the Leinster quarter-final in a fortnight.

Athy: S Jackman; S Moore, M Spillane, D Lawler; P Spillane, C McCarron, J McGrath (1-00); K Feely (0-02, 1f), D Hyland (0-04, 2tp); B Maher, B Kelly, C Doyle; R Kelly (2-02), C Moran (0-01), N Kelly (0-04).

Subs: M Hyland for S Moore (44), B Purcell (0-02) for B Kelly (46), Cian Keely for C Moran (55), S Bride (0-01) for B Maher (53), J Dooley for C Doyle (55)

Baltinglass: M Jackson (0-03, 1tpf, 1f); C Doody, T Burke, K Furlong; J Flemming, S A Daly Danne, P Burke; J Kirwan (0-02, 1tp), S Doody; P Whelan, J Keogh (0-02 1tp), C Heslip (0-02); J McGrath, T Keogh, A McHugh (0-01).

Subs J Kennedy for A Daly Danne (50), P Kirwan for S Doody (54), S Heaslip for C Doody (58), T O'Toole for J Kennedy (59)

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