Killavullen best in relegation battle
The opening 20 minutes were tight, the sides level five times. In this period Ballyclough were denied two goal scoring chances with Alan O’Mahony saving well from Teddy O’Shea and Sean Smyth.
The winners edged ahead with points by David Brosnan and Richard Dorgan with Sean Smyth and Paul O’Flynn levelling matters for the sixth and last time at 0-7 in the 26th minute. Killavullen finished the half well with four points to go 0-11 to 0-7 clear at the break.
Ballyclough had the aid of the stiff breeze in the second half. An off the ball incident three minutes into this half involving a number of players saw red cards for Barry McDermott and Alan O’Driscoll.
Killavullen won the vital half back battle where Pat Egan was outstanding and Bartley Hayes, with his forward runs, ‘man of the match’. This put a lot of pressure on the Ballyclough backline, who were forced to concede a number of frees.
Trailing 0-15 to 0-11, Ballyclough never gave up and points by Sean Smyth (free) and Tom O’Neill had the lead down to two points with just three minutes to go. But Killavullen got on top again with two late Declan Dorgan pointed frees, while Ballyclough had a point by Peter Carroll after good work by Paul O’Flynn and Jimmy O’Shea.
Seven minutes additional time were played and Killavullen sealed victory when John O’Regan, Mick Dineen, Brian O’Driscoll worked well for Pat Egan to kick a great point. Deep in injury time Ballyclough were reduced to 13 when Paul O Flynn received a second yellow card..
Scorers for Killavullen: D Dorgan 0-5(0-3f), A O’Driscoll (0-1f), P Egan 0-3 each, D Brosnan, C O’Connell, B Norris (0-1f) 0-2 each, R Dorgan, M Dineen 0-1 each.
Ballyclough scorers: T O’Neill 0-4, P O’Flynn 0-3f, Sean Smyth, M Heffernan 0-2 each, T O’Shea, B Morrissey, P Carroll 0-1 each.
KILLAVULLEN: A O’Mahony; D Roche, R Dorgan, K Murphy; B Hayes, J O’Regan, P Egan; B O’Driscoll, C O’Connell; S O Regan, M Dineen, D Dorgan; A O’Driscoll, D Brosnan, B Norris.
Subs: D Howell for B Norris (inj) E O’Connor for K Murphy.
BALLYCLOUGH: A O’Shea; W Walsh, R O’Flynn, B McDermott; P Carroll, J O’Shea, D O’Connell; B Morrissey, P O’Flynn; T O’Neill, S Smyth, T O’Shea; M Heffernan, N Finnegan, J Deady.
Subs: T Healy for N Finnegan, B O’Leary for S Walsh, M Linehan for J Deady, M Fitzpatrick for P Carroll.
Referee: Peter Downey (Inniscarra).
