Killeavy faced their second tough away game in three days, playing in Sarsfields on Sunday afternoon, in genuinely hot, sultry conditions. The pitch was in great shape, and the wide playing surface
made for a very open match. Killeavy started the brighter, but did not make use of their superiority, missing several good chances for scores. Anthony O'Hare settled the nerves with a good point, before
a disastrous error in the halfback line led to the slackest of goals for Sarsfields. Nevertheless, a fine effort from Seamus Toner had Killeavy very much in touch. Sarsfields were growing in confidence, however,
and began stretching the Killeavy defence, with some very precise passing, two of their forwards in particular, looking very useful. They tagged on a few points, before Seamus Toner got on the end of a quickfire Killeavy move to
somehow miss with the goal completely at his mercy. He did respond a few minutes later to flick a ball onto the post, before burying the rebound to the net. However, John McKevitt's point was Killeavy's final score of the half, and meant that
Sarsfields went in two points up at half time.
Half-Time:Sarsfields 1-05 Killeavy 1-03
The second half was going to require a supreme effort for Killeavy to take the points, but a Gerard Byrne free in the opening minute did not lght the blue touchpaper. In fact, for almost the entire half Killeavy were on the backfoot, and for the
first time this year, they were well out of contention in the game. Sarsfields were completely on top in the middle third, and this heaped pressure on an overworked defence, which inevitably creaked and conceded several scores from frees.
Hard to explain how uncompetitive Killeavy were for twenty minutes of this half, led a merry dance by a Sarsfields team all too capable of playing fine football when their tails were up. With five minutes to play Sarsfields had a six point lead, and were
seemingingly coasting. A late flurry almost brought Killeavy back into contention, a John McKevitt point, and a free from Mark Stanfield followed by a Seamus Toner goal brought Killeavy to within touching distance. However, a result would have been
daylight robbery and Sarsfields thoroughly deserved the points. Some days, it just doesn't happen, but the team must still try and knuckle down and keep discipline. Let's learn the painful lessons and hit the training pitch hard!!!
Full-Time: Sarsfields 1-12 Killeavy 2-07
Killeavy Team: B. Teggart, C. Quinn, B. McKevitt, K.O'Hare, P. Donnelly(J. Reel(36mins)), L. O'Hare, C. Byrne(K. Martin(50mins)), J. Duffy, M. Stanfield(0-1f),
R. Teggart, G. Reel, A. O'Hare(0-1), S. Toner(2-1), G. Byrne(0-2, 2f), J. McKevitt(0-2).
