Granemore were the visitors in Killeavy on Friday night, a team Killeavy had already beaten twice this season already. Certainly, the championship game between the two could have gone either way,so a tough match was
in prospect. It was a pleasant evening, but the wind advantage was sizeable, and Killeavy had the breeze in the opening half. Killeavy were off to a solid start, with the ever-dangerous McDonnell looking fairly dangerous.
The first two scores came from his boot, both set up by nice passes from Mark Stanfield, the second strike coming from a good fifty yards. Killeavys next score didn't come for another ten minutes, but when it did, it was goal.
A forceful through run from Stephen Malone cut the defence open, but his driven shot was well-saved. Unfortunately for the keeper, the ball hit the upright and dropped back into the square for Malone to fist to the net. Three further McDonnell
points, one from a long free, had Killeavy 1-5 to 0-1 up, building a large lead, which looked necessary in the conditions. At this point though Granemore played themselves back into the game. Some good support running and great shooting saw them
hit the next four points to leave just three between the sides. At this stage Adrian Doran started to make an impact at full-forward, clipping over three points in a row, to leave Killeavy five in front at the interval. Granemore had shown, however,
in some of their play, they were by no means out of the contest, with a sizeable wind advantage to come.
Half-Time:Killeavy 1-08 Granemore 0-06
As if to emphasise the fact, Christy O'Connor boomed over a super point for Granemore from fifty yards, and another long ball to the square nearly broke to the net, but Killeavy defence managed to clear. However, the real push expected from Granemore
was blighted by some very wasteful shooting, amassing eight wides in the second half. Having ridden the early storm, Killeavy at last settled into the game, and some good running play up the field opened up Granemore on a number of occasions. Two further frees from
McDonnell stamped a grip back on the match. Stephen Malone made a point from play look easy, before a great piece of interplay from Toner and Doran put Malone in again to cooly slot home the game clinching goal. Granemore's return of four points in the second half was
disappointing, the highlight being a beautiful sideline score from an acute angle. Killeavy will have been relieved to get a clean sheet in this match, having let in quite a number in recent games. Blain Cromie made a fine second half save to keep the net intact.
Killeavy are now very well placed in the league, but they have some very difficult games to come, including trips to Clann Eireann, St Pats and Silverbridge. Promotion is in their sights, but the next game wil be the championship against a high flying Maghery in a fortnight.
Recently, displays have been too patchy, thirty minutes of good play, mixed in with thirty minutes of mediocrity. This will not do in two weeks time.
Full-Time: Killeavy 2-12 Granemore 0-10
Killeavy: B Cromie, K O'Hare, F Mallon, C Quinn, G Reel,P Watters, L O’Hare, C Hickey, J Duffy, R Teggart,
M Stanfield, S Malone(2-1), S McDonnell(0-7, 3f), A Doran(0-4), S Toner. Subs: None. 6 wides.
