Keady 0-12 Killeavy 2-11

Killeavy travelled to a sun drenched Keady on Sunday afternoon, in stark contrast to the miserable conditions of the championship match a week earlier. Conditions were very hot, and Keady played with a slight breeze in the opening period. Killeavy fielded without Mark Stanfield and, somewhat frustratingly, Stephen McDonnell didn't play either. Killeavy had a whirlwind start to the match, Anthhoy O'Hare on fire at corner forward, and really giving his man the runaround. O'Hare opened the scoring with a point and won the next ball for a Raymond Teggart point. James Duffy took a soaring catch from the kickout and played in Seamus Toner to fist another point. Keady replied with a free, but a great move from defence, starting with a Karl O'Hare interception, saw Adrian Doran play a quick ball to Anthony O'Hare, who buried a super shot to the roof of the net from twenty yards. After ten minutes Killeavy led by five and we appeared to be all set for a stroll in the sun. This notion was soon dispelled as Killeavy really struggled for the rest of the half. Poor handling, passing, carrying the ball into the tackle and losing possession, late release of the ball to the forward line were all very much in evidence. Keady began to win the physical battle, and were economical from frees and from play. They had a lot of joy, playing direct long ball to the full-forward and feeding off the breaks. Six points in a row for Keady were only stemmed at the end of the half by a good point from the right wing by Paul Watters. Both sides exchanged frees, before a good save by Michael Teggart left the sides level at the break.

Half-Time:Keady 0-08 Killeavy 1-05

Killeavy had a fortuitous start to the second half, a Raymond Teggart shot clearly wide, but the Keady umpire awarded the score. Seamus Toner then came to life in the second half, and he played a long free to Adrian Doran, and followed up to take the return to kick the best point of the day. Several wides from Keady kept Killeavy's two point lead intact. Indeed, this lead lasted almost the entire half, as the teams exchanged points. Killeavy were scoring from frees, Adrian Doran and Gerard Byrne (2), while Keady's corner forward Ryan Gale, posed their main threat from frees and from play. Killeavy introduced several subs, Justin Reel helping out well around the midfield, when introduced. Stephen Malone has returned to the squad from his studies in England, and his late goal was put on a plate by Anthony O'Hare to give the scoreline a glossy look. This was a fairly mixed display, with some patches of very poor play, particularly in the opening half. Still, any win in Keady is always very hard-fought, and this was certainly no different. Liam O'Hare had another stellar performance at centre back, while up fromt his brother Anthony was a handful, and Seamus Toner had a forceful second half along with Gerard Byrne.

Full-Time: Keady 0-12 Killeavy 2-11

Killeavy Team: M. Teggart, K. Martin, B. McKevitt, K.O'Hare, G. Reel, L. O'Hare, P. Donnelly, P. Watters(0-1), J. Duffy, P. Rocks, R. Teggart(0-3, 1f), S.Toner(0-2), G. Byrne(0-2, 2f), A. Doran(0-1, 1f), A O'Hare(1-2).
Subs: J. Reel for P. Rocks(40 mins), D O'Hanlon for R Teggart(40 mins), P. Hannaway for K Martin(50 mins), S. Malone for A Doran (55 mins), M Connolly for A O'Hare (59 mins). 6 wides.
8 wides.