Ballyhooly hold out against Kilshannig
DIVISION 1 FL Ballyhooly 1-8 Kilshannig 0-9
Thursday March 11 2010
HAVING been beaten in their opening round games the previous weekend both Ballyhooly and Kilshannig went in search of victory at Glantane on Sunday last, with Ballyhooly eventually going through by a two point margin.
The opening sequences saw the home side make a promising start and helped by two early points from Kevin Kiely and Patrick Cronin they moved into a 0-2 to 0-1 lead by the 7th minute. As the half progressed Ballyhooly began to find their composure and were to strike for the only goal of the game in the 11th minute when Shane Murphy was at the end of a three man movement involving Michael Whelan, Joe Dowling and Kieran McCarthy to score a great goal. The remainder of the half was keenly contested with both teams battling hard for supremecy. With points being exchanged between Martin Kiely (2), Kevin Kiely and Kieran McCarthy to leave two points between the sides by the 23rd minute.
Kilshannig were to stage a good revival before the break but were to account for some bad wides and in the 28th minute they added a late point when good work by Darragh O'Mahony set up Patrick Cronin to score a fine point and see the lead down to the narrowest of margins at the shortwhistle.
The second half was much the same trend as the opening period with Ballyhooly holding a slight edge. The winners were first to score again when Eamon Hanrahan and Fergal O'Connell combined well to place Michael Whelan to kick over while Kieran McCarthy followed with a point moments later when he kicked over from a very tight angle. Kilshannig came more into the game as the half progressed but were unable to cut the deficit to any more than two points, as when they scored Ballyhooly responded immediately to maintain their three point cushion. Diarmuid Finnegan and Michael Whelan traded a point each by the three quarters stage. In the last quarter Kilshannig continue to battled hard but at times were often pegged back by a resolute Ballyhooly defence where Adrian O'Driscoll, Jerry O'Connor and Kevin O'Driscoll caught the eye. The next score game in the 57th minute when Darragh O'Mahony had a point from a free but it was quickly cancelled out through Kieran McCarthy to leave the score, at the end of normal time 1-7 to 0-7.
With a lot of injury time due to be played the home side went in search of an equalising goal but it was not to be with Martin Kiely adding two more points before the final whistle while Joe Dowling was also on target for Ballyhooly with a pointed free deep in injury time.
