Killeavy travelled to Cruppen on Saturday evening looking to continue their good start to the year. Yet again the Cruppen pitch was in magnificent order and Killeavy chose
to play with the breeze in the opening half on a fine, dry, overcast evening. James Duffy was unavailable and Mark Stanfield plugged the gap in midfield, while Anthony O'Hare started
this week with Seamus Toner away on U21 duty. Straight from the throw-in Killeavy had a wonderful goal chance, a flick from the newly married Stephen McDonnell putting Gerard Byrne
right through. He blasted over, with a goal gaping. Killeavy were concentrating on breaking the ball in midfield, and they did very well to pick up most of the breaking ball. However, some of their
shooting was very poor from too far out and under pressure. They would have been better advised to play the balls into their full-forward line. The net result was that they failed to register a score
for the next 15 minutes. Cruppen led by two to one at this stage through scores from Seamus Kane(free) and Paul Keenan. Killeavy then hit a flurry of scores with Adrian Doran coming more into the game at centre-forward.
McDonnell hit two points, one from a free, followed by points from Anthony O'Hare, Conor Quinn and Darren O'Hanlon. Cruppen had withdrawn seven into defence and Quinn ran through well from corner back for his score.
A quick break from Cruppen saw Peter Loughran place a corner forward in to punch to the Killeavy net. This followed another point from Keenan, and Cruppen were a point up coming towards the break. Two great points from
Adrian Doran and Stevie McDonnell gave Killeavy a point lead at half-time.
Half-Time:Cruppen 1-04 Killeavy 0-08
The loss of Paul Keenan to a tight hamstring was a blow for Cruppen, and Killeavy definitely carried the greater threat in the early stages of the half. Two close in frees from McDonnell and Byrne were nullified by frees
from Kane, but Gerard Byrne (2) and Raymond Teggart hit three excellent scores from play to give Killeavy a four point lead. The ever-dangerous Cruppen attack weren't finished and a long free into the Killeavy square was broken to an
unmarked Cruppen forward who blasted Cruppen back into contention with a goal. Straigh from the kickout the teams were level with a booming long range score from the Cruppen centre back. It seemed the home side had the momentum, but Killeavy really
responded in the last ten minutes, and two well worked moves resulted in close in frees that McDonnell converted for the win.
This was a great result for Killeavy, whose midfield pairing of Mark Stanfield and Paul Watters had a superb hour. However, based on this platform of possession, they really struggled to put a dangerous Cruppen side out of the game.
Still, it was a great win and not many teams will take two points on their travels to the Camlough Road. Stevie McDonnell can now really enjoy his honeymoon in Mexico, and he showed not too many effects frm his wedding on Thursday, chipping in with
a very handy half-dozen scores.
Full-Time: Cruppen 2-08 Killeavy 0-15
Killeavy Team: S. O'Hanlon, C. Quinn(0-1), F. Mallon, K.O'Hare, G. Reel, B. McKevitt, L. O'Hare, P. Watters((28mins), M. Stanfield,
R. Teggart(0-1)(C Hickey(55mins)), A. Doran(0-1), D. O'Hanlon(0-1)(P. Rocks(30 mins)), G. Byrne(0-4, 1f), S.McDonnell(0-6, 4f), A O'Hare(0-1)(P. Hannaway(50 mins)).
