One Point win over Ballyhea
July 11, 2019
U14 B Hurling Championship R1 03/07/2019 Vs Ballyhea in Ballyhea
Result : Killavullen 3-9 Ballyhea 2-11
A point separated the sides in a hard fought ding dong battle in balmy Ballyhea as our U14’s got the championship season off to a winning start. It was always going to be tough to beat Ballyhea on their own pitch and so it proved with the home team making the stronger start. Two points down after the opening 5 minutes we got back into it, with scores from the hard working Eoin O Hanlon, and the deadly free taking of Colm Hannon.
We lived dangerously for a while before Darragh O Connor, who battled manfully all night on a sticky full back, created a chance that Ian O’Mahony finished to the net. We needed the goal as Ballyhea tagged on further scores from their very accurate free taker. The defence at this stage had a lot of work to do and Colm O Mahony, Dan Cronin and Barry Cotter were called on to steady the ship with hard tackling and strong hurling. Shane Cahill then clipped a lovely point over before soon after using his soccer kills to kick a goal to send us in at half time 2-5 to 1-7 up.
The tight nature of the game continued to the second half and it was all hands on deck as Ballyhea came back strong. Great work by Willie Gifford around the middle and corners Thomas Fennel and Jamie Lowe made things hard for the opposition but Ballyhea still managed to take the lead with a goal that made life difficult for us in return.
Some teams would have thrown in the towel but our guys hung in and bounced back. Owen Magner was looking dangerous winning ball and this lead to chances and frees that kept us close. Around the middle third the industrious Steven Rea and Fergal Hogan made some vital contributions. Colm Hannon then pinged a free that Hoggy would be proud of from the left touchline and we were rallying.
We were still behind as full time approached, with Eoin O’Hanlon driving things from midfield and the influential Ian O’Mahony causing headaches for Ballyhea. Soon a chance appeared and Shane Cahill pounced again, deciding against the use of the hurley to kick another goal to send us up two points.
Cue a nail biting final phase of the game as Ballyhea threw all they had at our defence, but we held firm. We conceded a point but the equaliser never came. By the skin of our teeth and just about deserved we look forward to round 2 next week in Killavullen vs Buttevant 10/07/2019, come out and shout them on!
Special mention to Charlie Cremin, who was a rock in goals as always, even though he played with a broken toe. Speedy recovery to Rory Regan and Eoin Forde, both out injured, but who helped from the sideline.
Team and scorers
- Charlie Cremin
- Jamie Lowe
- Colm O’Mahony
- Thomas Fennel
- Dan Cronin
- Barry Cotter
- Fergal Hogan
- Eoin O’Hanlon (0-3)
- Willie Gifford
- Shane Cahill (2-1)
- Ian O’Mahony (1-0)
- Colm Hannon (0-5)
- Owen Magner
- Darragh O’Connor
- Steven Rea
- Subs:
- Darragh O’Neill
- Niall Feeney (DOConnor 50mins)
- Connor O’Neill
- Seamus Cronin
- Colm Hayes