Under 21's fail to fire and bow out of championship.
February 22, 2020
Killavullen failed to fire earlier today, in their game against Kildorrery that eliminated us from this year’s U21 Football championship, after we had already lost against Buttevant. In the end, Killavullen players could not quibble with the result, as Kildorrery displayed the greater desire and commitment over the hour. With the amount of rain that has fallen, the sand based pitch was in fantastic condition, and the only quibble on the day could be with the bitterly cold wind that was blowing down the middle of the field.
Kildorrery played with the wind in the opening half but Killavullen got the opening score from a free in the 2nd minute. Kildorrery were dominant around midfield and equalised from a free in the 4th minute, and took a lead that they never relinquished from another free in the 5th minute and took a further lead in the 7th minute. Kildorrery stretched out their lead further in the 9th minute but we got a point back from our best forward, Padraig Looney in the 13th minute after Seamus O Mahony had done well in a tight corner to work the ball outwards. We got to within a point of our opposition when Mikey O Connor was fouled, and Padraig scored the resultant free. Kildorrery weathered the storm though, and took a significant step forward when their centre forward, Anthony Crowley in the 16th minute, ghosted in towards goal, and was lost by our defenders, and he was found by a good forward pass, and finished expertly to the net, past Cian. The game was evenly contested for the next 10 minutes, but we never look like breaching their rear guard and we got caught with a sucker punch, when Kildorrery worked an overlap well, and their Pierce Piggott finished to the net again, in the 23rd minute. We kicked two further wide balls before Kildorrery got the final score of an even enough 1st period to lead at the interval 2-05 to 0-03. Even though it was equal enough on the field, it was not so even on the scoresheet. Kildorrery had kicked six wides with the wind at their back, but we had kicked four in the same period.
We got a point back after the half time break, courtesy of Mickey O Connor, in the 5th minute of the half and we sprung Mark Nagle from the bench, to try to influence the game. Eoghan Buckley was hampered by an injury and was moved to the full forward berth and he scored for us in the 16th minute, but we were not making the inroads as hoped into their lead, and kicked a number of wides. We were industrious around midfield, and our best players on the day were Padraig Cronin and possibly Eoin Birchill, but we lacked serious penetration power, especially going forward. Darren Murphy replaced Conor Griffin and we got another point back from Padraig, again in the 22nd minute. We did work two goal chances but the Kildorrery goal keeper smothered the initial effort and the second effort was wide of the posts. Kildorrery though had weathered our forays and scored themselves impressively in the 25th minute and capitalised on a breakdown of our kick out to score again, immediately afterwards to finish off the scoring and win impressively on a final score of 2-07 to0-06.
Kildorrery will face Charleville in one semi-final now, and Clyda Rovers and Buttevant will contest the others. Sadly after two games in which our desire and application could be questioned, we bow out. After contested the final in the same grade in 2019, this year, in 2020 was a disappointment for the grade. Our youthful team may need another year or two to become significant players at this grade though.
- Cian Lankford
- Conor Griffin
- Ronan Barry
- Brian Cotter
- Michael Cagney
- Fionn Magner
- Padraig Cronin
- Mickey O Connor (0-01)
- Eoghan Buckley (0-01)
- Padraig Looney (0-03, 0-02F)
- Eddie Cotter
- Eoin Birchill
- Jack O Connor (0-01)
- Colm Looney
- Seamus O Mahony
Substitutes
- Mark Nagle for Seamus O Mahony
- Darren Murphy for Conor Griffin
- Cian O Connor for Eoghan Buckley