Desperate night in Freemount, but we won
July 20, 2019
On a dreadful night in Freemount last night, Killavullen defeated St. Peters in the opening game in this year’s Minor Football championship, Division 2 grade. Both teams, and indeed the referee and spectators are to be applauded for being in the venue, when the rain was coming down horizontally, and the wind was very strong, straight down the middle of the high and open field.
We played against the wind in the opening half, and though under the cosh at times, our defence held firm and we came out with the ball on several occasions. The ball through the hands was the best philosophy on the night, but it was akin to trying to keep hold of a bar of slippery soap. The opening score came from St. Peters when a long delivery bounced on the hard ground over the bar, and the second score was a 45 metre conversion from them. St Peters scored again in the 10th minute, and got their 4th score in the 13th minute. We had a lot of possession in the opening period, but we failed to score against the elements, with some poor shot selections. We got our opening score from Darragh O Grady in the 20th and quickly afterwards, we got a very decisive score. A shot from the wing from Colm Looney was held up in the strong wind, but Cian O Connor had followed the flight of the ball, and got to the ball before their out coming goalkeeper, and rounded him, and finished to the net. In the significance of the elements, it was a very important score. St. Peters got a converted free in the 25th minute but the hard working Darragh equalised in the 28th minute, with a very difficult free, against the elements. We took the lead for the first time in the 30th minute when Eoin Birchill sent over a lovely point, after good intricate play from our over lapping half backs had created the opening.
In the second half, and with Killavullen now playing with the considerable wind, we quickly went further ahead with two booming points from centre field, courtesy of Brian Cotter. However judging the wind was no less trappy than at the Open, in Portrush. Several shots missed their intended inside target and went wide. Mark Nagle got another point for us, then Darragh again, and Colm Looney. Noah Butler was introduced off the bench, and his strong play earned us another point. The goalkeeper from St. Peters made two outstanding saves, illustrating why he has played intermediate grade football for his home club of Rockchapel, in a one on one situation, with Colm Looney and Noah, he managed to save on each occasion. Eoin got us another score before St. Peters got a point back, but Noah and Colin Carey took us further ahead. St Peters got another point before Noah capped off his fine introduction with his 3rd point of the night.
The game concluded on a final score of 1-13 to 0-07. St. Peters are an amalgamated club, drawing players from Meelin, Rockchapel and Freemount, and though numerically tight for players, they are to be congratulated for preserving Gaelic football in their areas. They had no player on the age of 18 in 2018, yet still kept going.
The team, and those who scored, were as follows;
- Chris O Callaghan
- Kian Lane
- Ronan Barry
- Ben Hunter
- Padraig Cronin
- Fionn Magner
- Michael Cagney
- Mikey O Connor
- Brian Cotter (0-02)
- Cian O Connor (1-00)
- Darragh O Grady(0-03)
- Liam Fox
- Mark Nagle (0-01)
- Eoin Birchill (0-02)
- Colm Looney (0-01)
Substitutes –
- Noah Butler (0-03) for Cian O Connor
- Colin Carey (0-01) for Colm Looney
- Michael Walsh for Mark Nagle
- Jamie Magner for Liam Fox