Just about, from Killavullen in tetchy Div 3 FL game.
April 24, 2026
Killavullen and Ballyhooly served up a good game of football, that ended in tetchy manner and saw one player receive a straight red in the acrimonious ending, which was entirely not necessary as, in the main, it was a nice sporting game.
Colm Looney opened the scoring for Killavullen before Ballyhooly equalised in the 10th minute. Killavullen spurned a number of point scoring chances with some wayward shooting, before Jack Stafford, Cian O Connor, and then David Walsh all fired over points, in rapid succession to open up a three-point lead. David’s point, was as a result of neat interplay between himself and Sean O Shea. It was then Ballyhooly’s turn to score a brace of points, one after the other, in quick fire fashion to have only a point between the teams, after 22 minutes. Sean Woulfe finished with aplomb after a great run, down the centre of the pitch, to the roof of the net to open up a sizeable lead in a tight game. What was apparent in the opening half, was how influential the returning Michael Cagney was, anchoring our defence, that was shored up expertly behind him, by Billy Norris, giving great cover to Darragh in our goals. We pushed out our lead further, when Seamus Cronin, and Cian O Connor combined, to set up Cian for a goal, from close range, and that was quickly followed by another goal from Sean, and a point from Cian Murphy to leave the score at the interval 3-05 to 0-03, which was tad harsh on Ballyhooly.
Ballyhooly scored the opening point from a free in the second half, and then another point, before Cian O Connor scored a nice point for us. Ballyhooly got another converted free, before they scored a goal, that gave them renewed hope in a game, that Killavullen were inclined to dominate at times, but wasteful shooting was our Achilles heel. We also withdrew Michael Cagney as a precaution, with he having been sidelined for so long with hamstring issues, and that fact, coupled with the introduction, of Mark Burnett, for Ballyhooly changed the dynamics of the game. Ballyhooly scored again, but Ian O Mahoney cancelled that out, after his introduction. We were denied a penalty when Cian O Connor got bundled over in the small square but Justin, the referee did not see it, as a free, and we simply had to regroup and play on. Ballyhooly scored another point, and then a goal, when we misplaced a pass, and we starting a counter offensive out of our backline. We were grateful for determined play from Niall Carroll and Jack Martin in our full back line, and Colm Hannon and Conor Barrett on the flanks, and Darragh steadied our kick-outs and got good distance in his clearances to put us in a front foot situation. We conceded another point to Ballyhooly, who had a free in the end, that could have ended with a two-point score, but it drifted wide, and we hung on to the win.
More accurate shooting and composure on the ball would have steadied the nerves towards the end of the game, but this youthful Killavullen team, will only benefit from games, such as these.
The team and scorers were.
- Darragh O Connor
- Jack Martin
- Billy Norris
- Niall Carroll
- Colm Hannon
- Michael Cagney
- Conor Barrett
- Cian O Connor (1-02)
- Sean Woulfe (2-00)
- Seamus Cronin
- Colm Looney (0-01)
- Cian Murphy (0-01)
- Jack Stafford (0-01)
- David Walsh (0-01)
- Sean O Shea
- Substitutes.
- Ian O Mahony (0-01) for Michael Cagney
- Cathal Moran for Jack Stafford
Fine displays from several young players, all around the field, and that coupled with some more experienced heads on each line of the selections made for a balanced team.