‘We have a lot of players who are capable of kicking the ball over the bar’: Steven McDonnell’s pleased with Killeavy’s spread of scores in win over Cullyhanna
irishnews.com · unknown author · 2026-08-30T10:45:40+00:00 · nguồn gốc
Cormac Leonard Commercials Armagh SFC Group B:
Killeavy 1-28 Cullyhanna 1-16
A dominant final quarter saw Killeavy pull away from their south Armagh rivals Cullyhanna, to secure a 12-point win and a place in the Senior Championship quarter-finals.
Steven McDonnell’s side flexed their firepower on a wet night, with 10 different scorers, and six players getting at least three points.
“That’s something that we try to work on,” said McDonnell after the game.
“We have no out-and-out scoregetter in the team. We try to get a good spread and that probably makes life more difficult for our opponents.
“We have a lot of players who are capable of kicking the ball over the bar, and thankfully, they all stood up tonight.”
The home side got off to a dream start, as they led 1-4 to 0-0 after five minutes.
Caolan McConville and Ciaron O’Hanlon each raised two white flags during this spell, whilst Fergal Boylan punished a loose short kick-out by finding the net.
Cullyhanna grew into the game however, and had a run of outscoring their opponents 0-11 to 0-2, with Aidan Nugent grabbing six of those points, to lead by two. But Killeavy closed out the first half by rattling off the last five points to lead by three at the break.
They picked up from where they left off, as they hit three consecutive two-pointers to open the second half. Callum O’Hare got the first of those, before goalkeeper Shea Magill converted two long-range frees.
Cullyhanna answered back though, and after a Nugent two-point free and a Lewis Bellew point, they were right back in the game when substitute Padraig McCreesh found the back of the Killeavy net to leave just three in it.
However, Killeavy controlled the last quarter of the game, and outscored their opponents 0-11 to 0-2.
Substitute Aron Magennis and Boylan each scored three points during this period, whilst O’Hare and Magill added two-pointers to complete their tallies.
The result, combined with Clan na Gael drawing at home to Silverbridge, sees Killeavy top the group on five points, whilst the Clans (four points) and Cullyhanna (two) will head into the Qualifier Round, with the draw taking place on Sunday evening.
Killeavy will now have a three-week break to prepare for the last eight, and McDonnell is hopeful of getting some key players back in for the next round.
“We have a few boys to get back,” said the Killeavy manager.
“Cathal Boylan was missing through injury and Conor Magennis wasn’t there tonight either. Conor O’Neill will be back (for the quarter-final) as well.
“So, having those few boys back into the mix will definitely help things.
“It was important to win the group, because playing three weeks in a row in tough, competitive Championship action takes its toll on the players’ bodies.
“We’ll use this week to recover, then we’ll have a week in between which will be hard graft. Then, we’ll know our opponent at that stage, and hopefully we can hone in on who we’re playing.”
Killeavy: S Magill (0-7, 3tpf, 1’45); R Allen, K Mallon, R Kearney; L Rice, G Murphy (0-1), C McKinney; E Boyd (0-1), C O’Hare (0-4, 2tp); C McConville (0-3), T Brown (0-1), C O’Hanlon (0-3); F Boylan (1-4, 3f), R McGuinness, N Magennis (0-1).
Subs: A Magennis (0-3) for McGuinness, C Cosgrove for Allen, K McDonnell for McConville, P Quinn for O’Hare, F Brady for N Magennis.
Cullyhanna: J Carragher; C Burns, F O’Rourke, S Irwin; Lewis Bellew (0-1), M Murray, D Gribben; D Conlon, S Conlon; G Duffy, P Conlon, R McQuillan (0-1); C Reavey (0-1), A Nugent (0-8, 3tpf, 2f), T Donnelly (0-5, 2tp).
Subs: J Quinn for Gribben, T O’Neill for Quinn, P McCreesh (1-0) for Irwin, G Mackin for S Conlon.
Referee: Enda Mallon.