Real progress in 2019 after Killavullen advance to football semi


Real progress in 2019 after Killavullen advance to football semi

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Real progress in 2019 after Killavullen advance to football semi

August 10, 2019

Killavullen advanced to the semi-final of the Avondhu Junior A Football championship after beating Ballyclough in last night’s replay on a final score of 1-13 to 0-12. The first half in particular was played in dreadful conditions, with torrential rain making for diabolical playing conditions.


Killavullen opened the scoring with a player that had not started a junior championship game before last night, but with several injuries, Mikey O Connor certainly grasped the opportunity when given. Mickey’s point was in the 1st minute. Ballyclough equalised in the 4th minute, but Padraig Looney took us back in front with a tidy finish in the 5th minute, Ballyclough equalised in the 7th with a converted free. Within the Ballyclough team, they have some admirable free takers, and any dead ball situation within 50 metres of the goal area, they were capable of nailing it. Ballyclough went ahead in the 8th minute before Charlie Lillis scored a free, that he earned himself in the 12th minute. Padraig Looney skipped past his man and scored in the 12th minute only for Ballyclough to equalise from another free in the 14th minute.


In now dreadful conditions, for players, officials and the spectators, the rain was coming down in torrents and made handling of the ball and holding your footing near impossible. Charlie Lillis turned sharply and raced away from his man, but dragged his effort on goal wide, but the same player atoned for that miss with a fine point in the 18th minute. Mikey, enjoying his promotion got his second point of the game for us in the 19th minute to stretch our lead out to two points. Ballyclough scored from Damien Buckley in the 21st minute but Charlie Lillis replied in the 22nd. Liam Cronin made it a 3 point lead with a score in the 30th minute but just before the interval , Ballyclough got a point back to leave the half time score, in our favour at 0-08 to 0-06.


Thankfully, there was a reprieve from the rain in the 2nd half when we introduced two more players from the bench, with Liam Fox and Mike Fresh entering the fray. Ballyclough scored a free in the 3rd minute that Liam Cronin cancelled out in the 4th, with a converted free of our own. Ballyclough gained a point back form a converted Colm O Neill free, in the 5th minute. Colm, playing in goals for Ballyclough strode up the field on 3 occasions in the 2nd period, to score, each and every one of them, a very assured strike. Ballyclough equalised with another free in the 8th minute of the game and took the lead with another O Neill free in the 12th minute. We were squandering a lot of chances in the period, with the final effort on goal wayward, but Billy Norris did not suffer from that malaise with a sweet conversion, after a quickly taken free by Mickey O Connor,  to restore parity to the game in the 15th minute. Billy, ever assured was having a profound influence on this very tight game. O Neill restored the lead for Ballyclough in the 17th minute from another assured kick but Ian O Gorman, showed commendable leadership in equalising for us in the 19th minute.


Into the last 10 minutes, and with everything to play for, Killavullen took the lead with a converted free from Billy in the 25th minute after Fionn Magner, who had a stellar game,  was fouled.  We went further ahead with a Michael Fresh point in the 28th minute and Ballyclough gained a point back, with a point in the 29th minute. It was tense and tight, but when the introduced Eamonn Horgan gathered a centre in and around the goals, he held the ball long enough, and then off loaded to the in-rushing Michael Fresh to finally beat Colm O Neill in the Ballyclough goals after 120 minutes of football.


It sent Killavullen into the semi-final of this year’s Junior A Football championship, which is real progress for 2019. Our opponents in the semi-final will be between Kilshannig and Ballyhooley, with Kilworth waiting in the final. 


The team and those who scored were;


  1. James Angland
  2. Pa Sheehan
  3. Sean O Regan
  4. Ian O Gorman (0-01)
  5. Patrick Angland
  6. Paul O Sullivan
  7. Fionn Magner
  8. Eoin Buckley
  9. Liam Cronin (0-02, (0-01F))
  10. Mickey O Connor (0-02)
  11. Billy Norris (0-02)
  12. Eddie Cotter
  13. Charlie Lillis (0-03, 0-01F)
  14. Michael O Rourke
  15. Padraig Looney(0-02)


Substitutes.

 

  1. Mike Fresh (1-01) for Charlie Lillis (injured)
  2. Liam Fox for Michael O Rourke
  3. Eamonn Horgan for Eddie Cotter
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