Senior Football League Division 2: Killeavy 0-15 St. Peter's 0-03Killeavy hosted St Peter's on Sunday afternoon in glorious sunny, warm conditions. There was great expectation that Killeavy could overcome the Lurgan challenge with Stephen McDonnell back in the ranks for the game. Killeavy lost Finbar Mallon, Karl O'Hare and Raymond Teggart to training injuries during the week, with Gerard Byrne and Adrian Doran back in the squad after hamstring injuries.Killeavy started very brightly, in control in all sectors of the park, but the old scourge of poor shooting was in evidence with four very bad early wides. Gareth O'Hare was first on the board, a marvellous through ball from his brother Anthony putting him straight in on goal, but he blasted over rather than into the net. A procession of scores followed, Gareth O'Hare scoring two more fine points, while Anthony O'Hare and Stephen McDonnell from a free had Killeavy five points clear, and they never really looked back from this. St Peters frst point again eminated from poor marking at a free kick situation, and Killeavy will really need to work on this aspect of their defending, as it happened on several occasions throughout the hour. Evan Quigley then scored a great individual point, running in on goal from fifty yards to tap over in accomplished fashion. Stephen McDonnell won the ensuing kickout to play in Rory Trainor for another point. John McKevitt finished the scoring from a close in free won brilliantly by a very impressive Gareth O'Hare. Killeavy had dominated the half completely, leading by six points, and still managing to hit 11 wides in thirty minutes.  The Killeavy team in their new black strip sponsored by Niall Clarke Oils. What a sunny day!! Half-Time: Killeavy 0-08 St Peter's 0-02.The second half threw up few surprises, although St Peters tried very hard, they were out of their depth and Killeavy, while failing to set the world on fire, comfortably played out the hour. Adrian Doran placed John McKevitt for an early point, before Anthony O'Hare finished off a flowing move involving John McKevitt, Gareth O'Hare and Evan Quigley. At this stage Killeavy made four substitutions to give as many of their squad as possible a run out. From this point on, their play wasn't quite as fluent, but Stephen McDonnell hit a bit of form to kick four points in the last fifteen minutes. When St Peter's kicked their only point of the second half from a free, Stephen collected the kickout, ran up the field and converted a great point from fifty yards. He then kicked a splendid fifty, and the final two were nice efforts from in front of the goal. In between, it was good to see Adrian Doran get back on the scoreboard after his injury lay-off. A very easy win for Killeavy, they played very well for long periods, although they will still need to brush-up on their break ball play around centrefield, which has been poor all season and didn't improve on Sunday. Needless to say 18 wides in perfect conditions is also completely unacceptable, when you consider the strength of some of the other teams in the division. Five points from six is a good start, and they face a crunch tie away to Cullyhanna next week: a win there would see them lay down a real marker as serious league contenders.Full-Time: Killeavy 0-15 St. Peter's 0-03.Killeavy Team: J. Maguire, C. Byrne, B. McKevitt, C. Quinn, P. Donnelly(K. McArdle(45mins)), L. O'Hare, G. Reel, J. Duffy, S. McDonnell(0-5, 1f, 1 '45), E. Quigley(0-1)(G. Byrne (40mins)), P. Rocks(A Doran(0-1)(25mins)), R. Trainor(0-1), J. McKevitt(0-2), A. O'Hare(0-2), G. O'Hare(0-3)(P. Hannnaway(45mins)). |