U21 Championship: Killeavy 2 10 Granemore 0 15

In great conditions on silverbridge¹s pristine new field Killeavy and Granemore played out one of the memorable matches anyone is likely to see. From the first minute granemore went in front with a well taken point and it was another 5 minutes before the irrepressable Gerald Byrne levelled. Young James Donnelly put Killeavy in front with a 20 yarder but that was short lived as it was cancelled out straight away. Granemore then added another 3 points before Byrne hit his second on the stroke of half time. Killeavy went in just 3 points down after being over run in most sections of the field. With Kieran toner and Brian Boylan in the middle of the park for granemore it was the break ball that was all important and Killeavy just could not get their hands on it.

Killeavy hit the first score of the second half when Byrnes again tapped over. From the kick out Granemore went up and scored through Doyle which seemed like some sort of signal to granemore to turn the screw on their opponents. Wave upon wave of granemore attacks were producing scores and in the 10 minutes they hit seven unanswered points to go 9 in front of a Killeavy team that appeared beaten in most quarters of the field. 12 mins were left when Byrne scored again and no one in the crowd, team or mentors from Killeavy knew what it started as Byrne hit another 2 mins later. Then ex county minor Barry Magee got in on the act when he rifled a fantastic goal from 12 yards. Killeavy looked to have suffered a set back when Donnelly had to come off after a head injury but Gordon Magennis, his replacement, stepped in and immediately got to grips with Carr. A super James Watters point sandwiched between 2 from Byrne left it all square with time nearly up. At this stage Toner, Malone and McKevitt were rampant around the middle O'Hanlon, Watters and Byrne were running riot in the forward line with Mc Conville and Sheridan getting on top in the defence helped by Hannaway who chased everyone back from his half forward position. With extra time looming Killeavy almost self destructed when the defence fouled twice at close range and granemore scored 2 very easy points to leave them 2 up with 4 mins of extra time gone. Wobbles drove the ball out and Killeavy managed to gain possession, the ball found its way to Watters who gave the perfect pass to Magee. With the deftest of touches Magee flicked it to the onrushing O'Hanlon who rocketed the ball past the keeper and into the net. The score sent the Killeavy crowd wild and the final Granemore attack came to nothing leaving it Killeavy 2-10 granemore 0-15. How Killeavy came back to win this match will be talked about for years to come and the same will happen in granemore, although the will wonder how from 9 points up and looking invincible they managed to succumb to a mighty Killeavy revival. The granemore supporters, mentors and team especially deserve huge credit to the way the conducted themselves after this defeat. Not a cross word was exchanged on the sidelines through the match and not a dirty blow on it. Always gracious the granemore management emphasized the point that Killeavy only played for 12 mins and that they had no answer to us when we were in full flow but a 12 minute period would not be enough to win next weeks final. I hope that everyone who has an even remote interest in Killeavy football turns up to next weeks final to fully support a group of lads that were prepared to fight to the end for the pride of Killeavy GAC.
Killeavy team: S O¹HANLON , R MC CONVILLE, R SHERDAIN , S STOKES , B MCKEVITT, P DONNELLY, M MCKEOWN, S TONER, D O¹HANLON, B MAGEE, P HANNAWAY , S MALONE, G BYRNE, J DONNELLY, J WATTERS.
Scorers G BYRNE 0-07 S TONER 0-01 J DONNELLY 0-01 J WATERS 0-01 B MAGEE 1-00 D O¹HANLON 1-00

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