The glorious twelfth of July certainly provided excellent conditions on Wednesday night as Killeavy and Silverbridge marched their way back to Mullaghbawn on Wednesday night for the B championship
replay. The 7-30 throw in was to ensure extra-time could be played out if necessary, and in the end up it proved to be a very wise contingency. The influential Jarleth Burns was apparently on holiday, but this did not
materialise into centrefield dominance for Killeavy. Indeed, far from it, Silverbridge picked up break after break, and Killeavy were in constant difficulties from kickouts. It may have different had full forward Justin Reel not
cannonned an early shot off the post with the goal at his mercy. Allied to this, the inspirational Liam O'Hare had a calamitous collision into the Mullaghbawn clubhouse with the back of his head. A serious injury looked on the cards, but miraculously
his robust cranium somehow stayed intact, as loose pebbledash flew everywhere. With the breeze, Silverbridge looked sharper and picked off the scores. On the other side of the coin, Killeavy hit five poor wides, several of thes should have been converted.
The result of this was a six nil lead for Silverbridge after 25 minutes. All of sudden, Killeavy's night sprung to life. A long ball to the square from Liam O'Hare was flicked to the net by Ciaran Duffy. Before the Bridge defence had time to say "King Billy",
Patrick Hannaway's blocked shot was grabbed by Gordon Magennis and lashed a great ball into the top corner of the net. The teams exchanged points, and from a position of obscurity Killeavy went in level at the break, and looking forward to the wind advantage in the second
half.
Half-Time:Silverbridge 0-07 Killeavy 2-01
Buoyed on by the goals, Killeavy got on top in the second half, and pushed out into the lead. Even corner back Ciaran Falloon was propelled into the limelight, kicking two frees with his left foot, the second one in particular, a fabulous strike.
The game seemed to turn on one instant. Killeavy had a three point lead with five minutes to go, and had possession on the Silverbridge fifty. Instead of kicking the ball dead, possession was lost and Silverbridge broke to score a break away point.
Again the scoring prowess of Bernard Connolly came to the fore. He hit the final three points of normal time to draw the game and bring it to extra-time. Indeed overall, he hit an impressive ten points on the night, five from frees and five from play.
Full-Time: Silverbridge 0-14 Killeavy 2-08
In extra-time, Killeavy played the first ten minutes with the wind, but a shot for a Bridge point cannonned off the post and fell into the hands off a forward to bury effectively th game winning goal. Killeavy tried hard, but the game slipped away from that
point on. Two very entertaining games, probably came down to the accuracy of the Silverbridge full-forward, who hit fifteen points over both games. Well done to both teams, and best of luck to Silverbridge in the All-County championship.
Extra-Time: Silverbridge 1-18 Killeavy 2-10
Killeavy Team: M. White, G. Teggart, B. McKevitt, C. Falloon(0-2, 2f), S. Stokes, K. Martin, G. Magennis(1-0), L. O'Hare(0-1), R. Goodall,B. Magee(0-1), D. O'Hanlon,
D. Lee Rowntree, C. Duffy(1-1), J. Reel(0-1), P. Hannaway(0-4, 3f).
