Slender win, after good football game against Ballyclough
April 26, 2026
Ballyclough and Killavullen served up a really good game of Football on Saturday night, played in Ballyclough, in fine, sunshine, with Killavullen taking the league points on offer, courtesy of two late points.
Killavullen started well, and Niall Feaheny was out in front of his man every time, and he bagged a good goal for us, in the 5th minute. Mikey O Connor and Colm O Mahony added points to that tally to leave Killavullen ahead y five points, after only 7 minutes. Ballyclough though started to find their mojo, and with the modern, open style of football now, brought about by changes of the rules in 2025, the scores are much more prevalent than before. Ballyclough scored a two-point score from a free and added on a point from open play in the 11th minute. Padraig Looney responded with a fine point for Killavullen after opening up space with a trademark searing run, but our hosts responded with a fine point of their own, in what was settling down into a great duel for supremacy, between two evenly matched teams. Padraig scored again, after fine work in defence from Brian Cotter released him. Ballyclough had the margin down to two points, with another point from play, and took the lead in the 18th minute with a well worked goal. Killavullen regrouped though, and went back to possession football again, that draws the opposing players around the field. You got to be patient with the ball though, and release the pass at the opportune moment, and such tactics worked the oracle in the 21st minutes, when Niall was again isolated, and he finished emphatically to the net. Ballyclough responded with a point, before Seamus Fox raised a white flag for Killavullen, just before the break to leave the score at the interval, 2-05 to 1-05, in our favour.
The second half was no less compelling then the first, but Ballyclough went quick out of the traps, and scored a free in the first minutes, and then another point from open play in the 3rd minute. Liam Cronin replaced Colm O Mahony in midfield, and Liam, fresh, after posting a fine time, in his debut marathon, in Paris only, last week. Both teams had a point each, to leave still just a point between the teams, by the 10th minute of the game, but while both teams probed, there was no further score until the 16th minute, and it was a telling one. Ballyclough took the lead with a fine goal, that gave Michael in our goals, little chance. Brian Cotter and Sean Palmer on our flanks were certainly bursting a gut in their forays forward and one such foray yielded a point for Brian, to cut the deficit to a single point. Ballyclough pushed out that lead again, to 2 points, before Eoin Birchill halved the arrears with a good point from an awkward free. Niall Feaheny got us back on level terms, in the 23rd minute of the half to set up a tense final few minutes. Ballyclough equalised again from open play, before Seamus Fox restored our single advantage with another point, from an angle. Eoin pushed out our lead to two points, with another converted free, before Ballyclough scored a two-point score, to have the two teams on the same score, 2-11 apiece with 28 minutes gone in the game. Niall Feaheny and Padraig Looney, two players already prominent in this report got the remaining two points for Killavullen, to garnish the win, in a game, that both teams would have learnt an awful lot from.
Final score – Killavullen 2-13 to 2-11 for Ballyclough
The team and scorers were.
- Michael Walsh
- Fionn Magner
- Kevin Fox
- Tomas Fennell
- Sean Palmer
- Ronan Barry
- Brian Cotter (0-01)
- Mikey O Connor (0-01)
- Colm O Mahony (0-01)
- Padraig Looney (0-02)
- Eoin Birchill 0-03, 0-02F)
- Jamie Magner
- Eddie Cotter
- Niall Feaheny (2-02)
- Seamus Fox (0-02)
Substitutes
Liam Cronin for Colm O Mahony