Killeavy Ladies Reach County Final

Killeavy 2-14 Lissummon 1-10

Killeavy Ladies reached the Armagh Intermediate final for the first time ever when they defeated Lissummon in Saturday evening’s semi-final.

The early stages of the match were fairly even with the Marley sisters dominant for Lissummon and the midfield of Sharon Reel and Sinead Mallon responding well for Killeavy.  Aveen Dooley got the scoring under way but this was soon cancelled out by a Lissummon free.  Killeavy then went two ahead with points from Aileen Matthews and Sarah Doran but Lissummon battled back to level.  Once again, Killeavy took the lead through Marianne Watters and Matthews stretched it to two with a well taken free from 40 yards.  A Lissummon point returned the margin to the minimum but when Sarah McDonald’s initial shot was blocked, she followed up well to send to the net to give the first real gap between the sides. Sarah Doran stretched the lead to five but Lissummon scored just at the break to leave the half-time score 1.06 – 0.05.

The second half started well for Killeavy with points coming from Marianne Watters and Aileen Matthews before they were rocked back to reality by a pile driver of a goal from Caoimhe Marley.  Within a minute however, Killeavy had restored their six point lead when Aileen Matthews broke through to send to the net from a narrow angle. Three more points were added by Aveen Dooley, Jo Shields and Sarah Doran to leave Killeavy a comfortable nine points ahead midway through the half.  If we thought it was going to be a stroll to the finish however, we were very much mistaken as within a minute Marianne Watters and Sharon Reel were sin-binned to leave Lissummon with a numerical advantage.  With their backs to the wall at this stage, Killeavy’s defence were magnificent with Carmel Mallon in particular repelling wave after wave of Lissummon attacks.  Desperately in need of a goal, Lissummon launched themselves at Killeavy but the nearest they came was when Aoife McAteer was forced to clear a ball from her line.  At the end of the sin-binning, Killeavy’s lead had been cut by four points but back to full strength they were able to pull away again and points from Sarah McDonald, Aileen Matthews and Sinead Kenna secured the victory.

This well deserved win takes the Killeavy girls into the county final where they will meet Armagh Harps – victors over Dromintee in the other semi-final.  While maybe not as free-flowing as their quarter-final win over Grange, management will still be happy with the all-round effort of the girls and the fact that once again all six forwards plus substitute Sinead Kenna got their names on the scoresheet.

N. Cromie, K. McManus, C. Mallon, A. McAteer, F. Quinn, Sinead Reel, F. Reel, S. Mallon, Sharon Reel, A. Matthews(1.04), S. Doran( 0.03), J. Shields (0.01), A. Dooley (0.02), S. McDonald (1.01), M. Watters (0.02).  Substitute used S. Kenna (0.01) for J. Shields

Seconds make hard work of league win

Killeavy 3-08 Corrinshego 2-08

Killeavy II recorded another win to keep them right up at the promotion end of Division 4 but they were made to fight all the way by Corrinshego.

Playing with the breeze in the first half, Killeavy went a point down before a Barry O’Hara free brought them level.  The free was earned after good work by Ryan Stokes and the same player, starting his first game for the seconds, went even better on five minutes when he caught the ball, rounded his marker and ran direct at goal before sending a rasping shot to the bottom left corner.  A Corrinshego point was cancelled out by Adrian Doran from 30 yards and then a neat one-two with Stokes saw Doran clear in front of goal and he made no mistake from five yards.

Corrinshego tried to battle back but had only two pointed frees to show for a period of pressure and the first half ended with Jason Cromie pointing before a nice interchange with Anthony O’Hare saw Darren Bennett through on goal and he crashed the ball home to send Killeavy into the break leading by 3.03 to 0.05.

The half-time team talk was all about the fact that the game was not over and that for all the good first half play, Killeavy had only scored six times to Corrinshego’s five.  If the players needed any more evidence that the game was far from over it came within the first five minutes of the second half when Corrinshego netted twice to leave only a point between the sides.  Anthony O’Hare settled the home team down with a well taken free before Adrian Doran gave them a little more breathing space with a fine effort from 30 yards.  With the elements at their backs, Corrinshego tried valiantly to get back in the game but Killeavy had defensive stars in Finbar Mallon and Darren Bennett who managed to hold firm restricting the visitors to three pointed frees.

The introduction of James Duffy as a midfield substitute helped to turn the tide and Killeavy finished strongly with another good point from Stokes and two O’Hare frees.

Corrinshego had one last chance to level matters when they seemed to be through on goal but a crucial slip on the wet turf allowed the ball to break away and be cleared to safety by the Killeavy defence.

A hard fought match, refereed very well by Paul Boylan, Killeavy just about deserved their 3.08 to 2.08 win.  Next up is the refixed away match to Clady on Wednesday evening.