Trappy fixture overcame to earn minor hurling final position
October 06, 2019
Killavullen and Castlelyons served up a very entertaining game of hurling in the Rebel Óg Division 2 Cork County Minor grade hurling semi-final, earlier today in the excellently prepared Ballyhooley venue.
Castlelyons were first to score in the 2nd minute but Mikey O Connor, who is deadly accurate from placed balls, and an accomplished player in his own right, equalised from a free for us in the 5th minute. Castlelyons replied with a converted free in the next minute, and went on a scoring spree of their own, scoring from play in the 8th, 9th and 10th minutes to be 0-05 to 0-01 ahead after the opening 10 minutes. Noah Butler scored for us in the 11th minute to reduce the deficit, and Colm Looney reduced it further with a nice turn and shot in the 12th minute. Jamie Magner had recovered from his exertions in the county final at U16 grade on only Friday night last, and he was a real menace to Castlelyons. In the 13th minute his shot on goal was partially blocked down, but Colm Looney followed the ball into the square and forced it over the line to register a green flag and push us ahead. Jamie scored in the very next attack followed by a Mikey free in the 18th minute after Darragh O Grady had been fouled. Mikey was successful with another converted free in the same minute after Jamie was fouled again. Castlelyons stopped our scoring momentum with a converted free in the 19th minute, only for Darragh to cancel out that score, after been clever link up play with Jamie. Darragh was at the end of a great relieving clearance by Brian Cotter and scored in the 21st minute and this tally was added to, with another Mikey free in the next minute. Castlelyons struck back into our lead with another free but Darragh scored again from play, this time after Ronan Barry cleverly seeking him out. Castlelyons scored a very good point from their best player, James Kearney in the 25th minute but Mikey nailed two difficult frees before the interval to bring out tally to 1-12 at the short whistle. Castlelyons got the final score of the half, again from a free to bring their score line to 0-09.
On the changeover, there was to be no let-up in the accuracy from Mikey with another converted free before Castlelyons mounted a spirited come back. They scored from a successful 65 metre shot in the 5th minute before they were right back in the game when they worked a good goal in the 9th minute. From the resultant puck out, they gained the ball around midfield and the shot from distance dissected the posts to leave only a point between the teams. That slender advantage was eroded in the next minute when both teams were level at 1-13 apiece.
It was important that Killavullen scored soon, and after good work by Fionn Magner, Darragh got enough space to fire a ball over the bar. Kian Lane was introduced for Mikey Looney at the back, and Mikey O Connor scored another free after Jamie belied his size and got between two Castlelyons players and earned a free for us. Mikey scored another free before we got a stroke of good luck, at a time when we needed it, after we were reduced to 14 players. Mark Nagle and Jamie Magner never gave upon a lost cause, and when the shot from Jamie went in, it came back off the upright. Colm Looney reacted best to this, and his shot goal wards was saved by their goal keeper who then was alleged to be lying on the ball. A harsh penalty was awarded, that Mikey dispatched with aplomb to the net to open up a sizeable lead 2-16 to 1-13 in the 20th minute. We earned another free that Mikey scored and we rang out the chances to freshen up the attack. Seamus O Mahony and Cian O Connor saw game time. Darragh scored again for us in the 27th minute, but Castlelyons replied with two frees in the 29th and 32nd minute. Colm Looney scored a beautiful point on the run in the 33rd minute but Castlelyons, showed their hurling history with a goal in the 34th minute, to leave only four points between the teams the final whistle, 2-19 to 2-15.
Killavullen would have been pleased to overcome this tricky fixture so soon after losing the U16 county in heart-breaking fashion, and now advance to the county final against, their nemesis team, Kilara Óg, who have beaten us in the North region, league and Championship finals already in 2019. A revised plan will be necessary to overcome this fine Kilworth / Araglin combination in the final.
The team was
- Padraig Cronin
- Conor Griffin
- Ronan Barry
- Michael Looney
- Brian Cotter
- Fionn Magner
- Chris O Callaghan
- Michael Cagney
- Mikey O Connor (1-10, 1-10F)
- Liam Fox
- Darragh O Grady (0-05)
- Noah Butler (0-01)
- Mark Nagle
- Colm Looney (1-02)
- Jamie Magner (0-01)
Substitutes –
- Kian Lane for Mikey Looney
- Seamus O Mahony for Mark Nagle
- Cian O Connor for Noah Butler