Kilnamanagh men up to Senior One
CHANTS of “we are going up” could be heard echoing around Ned Kelly Park on Sunday morning as Kilnamanagh AFC men’s team secured promotion for the second season running.
The Tallaght outfit will be playing in LSL Senior One next season for the very first time in the club’s history as they clinched third place in Senior 1A following a 5-0 victory over Arklow Town.
Kilnamanagh beat Arklow Town comfortably to secure promotion to the LSL's Senior One for next season.
Heading into this match, Kilnamanagh were behind third place Portlaoise, and a win over Arklow was required to secure promotion.
Kilnamanagh hit the ground running in the opening 25 minutes and effectively had the match wrapped up as they established a 4-0 lead.
Former Shamrock Rovers captain Gary McCabe drew on all of his experience to fire home early on and settle the nerves of the home team.
It was all Kilnamanagh in the early stages and they had three more in the back of the net with Anthony Hanevy, Adam Buckley and Luke Halpin shooting home.
Arklow were stunned by this early barrage as Kilnamanagh held firm with their defence made up of former Cork City player Gavin Kavanagh along with keeper Karl Coleman, a former Shamrock Rovers player.
Hanevy scored the only goal of the second half for the Tallaght side as they ran out comfortable winners.
“It’s great to finish of the season with a big win over Arklow and secure promotion for the second year running,” said Kilnamanagh manager Keith Foy.
“We set a target of promotion at the start of the season and all the hard work has paid off. We got a good run of results before Christmas and that really stood to us. I’m just delighted for the team. It’s great we will be playing in Division One,” added Keith.
Anthony Hanevy played his part in Kilnamanagh’s success this season scoring 20 goals while the experience of McCabe, Kavanagh and Coleman was also pivotal.
