Dreadful weather spoils high intensity game, but we survive.
September 07, 2025
Killavullen and Clyda Rovers served up an epic battle last night in dreadful conditions in Mallow, when the huge and partisan crowds were grateful for the shelter of the stands. Such was the wind and rain that was blowing, that everyone in the stands were hunched in together in the middle of it, the ends been billowed by the strong winds and driving rains, it made for fervent atmosphere, and the players on the field delivered a masterclass in honest endeavours and bravely, interspersed with some moments of class.
Killavullen got the opening account, from a converted 65 metre shot, from Jamie Magner after the Clyda Goalkeeper turned away a Darragh O Grady shot on goals, in the very first minute. Killavullen were playing with the wind, but in reality, it was swirling and gusting around the ground, and made it hard to get your sights in, on the post. Clyda equalised from open play, scored by Conor Corbett, wearing the No. 20 jersey in the 3rd minute. Owen Magner was buzzing around his half forward line picking up breaks, and he reacted quickest to a breaking ball in the sixth minute and put us back in the lead again. His brother Jamie, operating in midfield fired a point from distance in the 8th minute to open up a two point lead. Sean O Sullivan is one of the new Clyda players to emerge on the scene in recent years, and he scored a great point, from open play in the 7th minute, and then from a dead ball situation in the 11th minute to draw the two teams levels.
The conditions favoured the defenders, and none shone a bright as Eoghan Buckley and Eoin Birchill in the Killavullen rear guard – they were majestic on the night, but the other four from Killavullen were not found wanting either, with heroic blocking and hooking, and Liam Cronin, central to everything. Clyda deployed a sweeper against the elements, but Liam moved our chess pieces around, to counter the move. It allowed Padraig Looney to be freed up in the forward line, and he was brilliant, out the field, on a night when he interlinked between the backs and the forwards. Colm O Mahony and Darragh O Grady were our full forward line, and Colm escaped from the clutches of very tight marking in the 12th minute to restore our lead. Clyda, fired up by their vociferous line equalised again in the 16th minute from Kevin Graham but Killavullen edged back in front again, when Darragh O Grady scored in the 20th minute. The physicality and hits on the night, where mind blowing in their intensity, and Killavullen would have to laud their players for manning up against bigger units, from Clyda.
Free’s were not given by the very composed and experienced referee Ciaran O Regan, they had to be earned, and Ciaran, did not once react to the bellowing masses in the packed stand. And boy, did they shout. He dished out some yellows, he kept a lid on an explosive game, in desperate circumstances, which was a credit to him. Colm O Mahony scored another point for us, in the 22nd minute but Clyda fought back, as is their ilk. Sean O Sullivan again scored from open play, and in the 23rd minute and between then and half time, the passion went up another notch but scores for either side, did not materialise. Niall Feaheny and Fionn Magner, with Eoghan Buckley, now at full back, shepherding Ben Nyhan repelled wave after wave of attacked, while the full back line of Clyda did similar. The conditions meant it was hard to score from out the field, and that compressed the scoring zones to inside both respective 40 metre lines.
The score at the interval was 0-06 apiece which was favourable to Clyda Rovers and them to play with the wind in the second period.
The second period of this game was championship hurling, Avondhu style, at its most intense. Every ball was contested with a vehemence, an intensity that had to be witnessed to be believed. Charlie Lillis was sprung from our bench, to run at the Clyda defenders, and he marked his introduction with a point from exactly that type of scenario in the first minute. Was it possible but the wind and rain picked up another level, but, if it did, so did the forcefulness of the game. Brian Cotter and his brother, on the other flank were magnificent, in getting on the ball and clearing it, and Mikey O Connor, despite shipping some huge hits, was always brave in showing for the out ball. Colm O Mahony scored again for us in the 9th minute in a game in which the scores dried up, to leave that, the only dry item on the most miserable of night. Jamie Magner, revelling in the intensity of the midfield exchanges where rucks were more common than a Munster rugby game, scored a great free from distance for us, when Padraig Looney had earned it. Kevin Fox was introduced for Mikey who eventually had to be withdrawn limping badly with thirteen minutes to go, and Kevin, strong, as they make them, in Commane, was put on to try to hold up the ball, even if only briefly against a Clyda onslaught, with the wind on our defenders. Time and time again, they, to a man, pushed the ball out the field in front of them, with Charlie in our goals surveying everything, and issuing instructions to counteract positional changes. In Patrick O Grady, Jamie had a brilliant ally in midfield. He ran and ran at his football comrades and drew fouls with his elusive sidestep. He was resplendent, in the dreadful conditions. When Owen Magner got on a breaking ball, and somehow managed to force the ball over the bar, to open up a five-point lead, with 12 minutes to go, it seemed telling. It was huge, and the belief grew within Killavullen. The belief got stronger when Owen again, bisected the posts, after Kevin Fox and Colm O Mahoney had conspired together to isolate him in the 22nd minute.
Sean O Sullivan got Clyda’s opening score of the second half from a free, out by the Killavullen dug out, on the opposite side of the field to the stand. A great score, from a fine young player, but Killavullen answered that back with a point from Kevin Fox, which was greeted with delight on the Killavullen bench, as they know how hard Kevin has been training, since he returned from Australia. Sean O Sullivan scored another free for Clyda to leave the score at 0-13 to 0-08 with four minutes to go. Clyda threw everything that they possessed into the game, and got a goal, from distance from Kevin Graham that came through a bevy of bodies and bounced high and skidded off the rock hard ground, past Charlie in our goals. When Cian O Sullivan scored a point from play for Clyda to leave only a point between the teams with three minutes of injury time to play, and Clyda only needed a draw, to force us out of the championship, our hearts were in our mouths, and defibrators on standby.
But our defence was magnificent – Liam Cronin, Brian Cotter and Jamie Magner somehow got blocks in, one after another in one mesmerising passage of play when Clyda were threatening to score the equaliser, that would have signalled our dead knell. We forced the sliotar up the field and we conspired to win a 65 metre shot, after a deflection sent the ball over the line. Jamie stepped up, against the wind, and nailed a brilliant score to open up a two point lead. We fought hard to win the puck out, and again, the ball was forced up the field, by our heroic defending and Owen Magner sealed the win, with a point from open play to bring us to 0-15 - a winning score against Clyda.
The crowds in the stands applauded both teams off the field at the end of the game, they had provided some entertainment, it was some endeavour from both teams.
The team and those who scored were;
Charlie Cremin
Fionn Magner
Eoin Birchill
Niall Feaheny
Brian Cotter
Liam Cronin
Eddie Cotter
Jamie Magner (0-04, 0-02 x 65M, 0-01F)
Patrick O Grady
Owen Magner (0-04)
Mikey O Conner
Eoghan Buckley
Darragh O Grady (0-01)
Colm O Mahony (0-04)
Padraig Looney
Substitutes
Charlie Lillis (0-01) for Daragh O Grady
Kevin Fox (0-01) for Mikey O Connor
In the next instalment, Killavullen play Charleville in the Junior A Q-Final, on the weekend of the 21st of September