Late drama with timely inception secures a fortunate win.
July 15, 2022
Killavullen, with a late, late goal, secured a two point winning margin over Ballyhooley earlier tonight in Glanworth. That mere statement does not do justice to the late drama, but we will come back to that later.
Ballyhooley opened the scoring in the 2nd minute from a free and added another in the 3rd, before Liam Cronin scored a lovely point from a dead ball situation, a 45 metre shot over the centre of the cross bar. At this stage, we were picking up many of the breaks around midfield, and Padraig Looney found himself isolated, and slotted over the bar, when he was in on goal, in the 7th minute. On another night, Padraig would have goaled, but he was carrying an injury into the game, and was far from 100%. Ballyhooley were forced into a turnover on the kick out, from which we capitalised and scored another point, from Padraig again. We created another goal scoring chance in the 9th minute, and this time, Paul O Sullivan scored a point. Ballyhooley came back thundering into the game though, and in the next twenty minutes, became dominant, in terms of the scoring. They scored their 3rd point in the 12th minute, and then, drew level in the 15th, from a close in free, when the referee was forced to throw up the ball, after stopping play thinking the ball had gone dead over the end line. In fact, James in our goals was alert, prevented it crossing the line, and was starting a counter attack. The tall full forward was fouled in the act of jumping, and thus the free was conceded. Ballyhooley took a firm grip on things in the 17th minute, when the same full forward scored a goal.
Neither team failed to score in the next 10 minutes, in the stifling heat despite numerus chances for both sides, but the parallel passing and lack of penetration allowed both defence to funnel back behind the ball. Ballyhooley got a close in free that they converted in the 27th minute but on the very next attack, Jamie Magner kicked our point from a free, that could have been a penalty and Padraig Looney had to leave the field, with an ankle injury, replaced by Liam Fox. Ballyhooley got another point from play in the 30th minute and took a commanding lead into the break, when they were awarded another free in the injury time period of the half. The score at the break was 1-07 to 0-05.
Killavullen made a raft of changes at the break, 3 in all, to try and freshen it up but it was Ballyhooley that scored the opening point of the 2nd period, with another free in the 5th minute. We replied with a free from Jamie in the 7th minute, and began an impressive response with a point from Mikey O Connor. When the introduced Mark Nagle scored a screamer of a goal shortly thereafter, in the 10th minute of the half, we found ourselves only a point in arrears, despite not playing particularly well. However there was a marked increase in the work rate, and Patrick Angland, Brian Cotter, Darragh O Grady and Kian Lane, breaking from the defences, offering themselves as an outlet at pace off the shoulder was key. We gained parity with another point from Jamie, and now with the momentum, we quickly added to that, with a Liam Cronin free, after Darragh was fouled, and another point from Mikey to lead, in the 17th minute. Ballyhooley scored a point back from distance in the 20th minute before they equalised in the 23rd, to set up a grand stand finish.
Ballyhooley then put their noses in front in the 26th minute and we tried valiantly to get an equalizer, but were repelled by the Ballyhooley rear guard, who minded the ball well, when they were in possession. However with time almost up, and having had the ball for close on 90 seconds, the ball was fed back to the Ballyhooly goalkeeper, who undercooked his pass out, and rather telegraphed it. Liam Cronin darted in, and intercepted the ball, and rolled it into the empty net. The ball was kicked out, Killavullen won the possession, and the referee called time on the game.
Final Score. Ballyhooley1-11; Killavullen 2-10
- James Angland
- Joe Cagney
- Fionn Magner
- Patrick Angland
- Brian Cotter
- Liam Cronin (1-01, 0-01(45))
- Cian O Connor
- Mikey O Connor (0-02)
- Ronan Barry
- Kian Lane
- Billy Norris
- Paul O Sullivan (0-01)
- Jamie Magner (0-03, 0-01F)
- Eddie Cotter
- Padraig Looney (0-02)
Subs
- Liam Fox for Padraig Looney
- Darragh O Grady for Cian O Connor
- Charlie Lillis for Billy Norris
- Mark Nagle (1-00) for Eddie Cotter
- Seamus O Mahony for Mickey O Connor