13-man Moycullen dice with danger after going to sleep

Killannin 1-14

FIVE goals, two red cards and just a single point between the sides. On paper, this local derby seemed to have all the ingredients of a classic but, in reality, by the time everyone started to get excited, it was already too late.

Trailing by ten points with 12 minutes of normal time remaining, Killannin almost pulled off the most remarkable of comebacks last Sunday afternoon and it appeared to happen almost by accident.

After Conor Bohan struck Moycullen’s fourth goal of the afternoon, the game appeared to be put to bed with both sides looking as if they were simply going through the motions waiting for the final whistle. Without showing a whole pile of urgency, Killannin continued to kick a few efforts over the bar and, almost without realising it, they had halved the deficit heading into added time.

Even then, Moycullen looked to have killed the game off with Dessie Conneely kicking a fine score to calm things down but Killannin had finally sensed the opportunity that was in front of them.

Enda Kelly popped over a couple of points for Killannin to bring the gap down to four points, with Moycullen at this stage having been reduced to 13 men after David Wynne added a black card to his earlier yellow.

With 68 minutes on the clock, Ruairí Greene and Johnny Heaney combined to set up Brian Barrett to hit the net and leave the gap at a solitary point but James Molloy finally sounded the full-time whistle after the resulting kickout, stopping Killannin in their tracks and saving Moycullen from sleep-walking off a cliff.

In the end, it was hard to tell who deserved what from the game. Even before they began their comeback, Killannin had dominated possession but a combination of wayward shooting and poor turnovers held them back. Without the injured Patrick Sweeney up front, Killannin would have hoped for others to step up to the plate but few did.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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