COUNTY MINOR FOOTBALL DIVISION 2 SEMI FINAL
KILLULTA GAELS 2-04 OOLA 3-09.

We bowed out of the County Minor Football C'Ship at the semi final stage in a match against Oola played last Saturday evening in Monaleen. Oola came flying at us from the start and had a goal on the board inside three minutes. Their midfielder collected the ball out the field and evaded numerous challenges before beating keeper Stephen Hodnett with an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net. Possession was hard to come bby forour lads but Peter Nash kicked over two points to reduce the gap, one from play and a second from a '45. But Oola struck for a second goal with the same player powering his way through and sidestepping the challenge of Stephen Hodnett to open up a five point lead. While Darren Walsh and Shane O'Brien were doing well around the middle along with Lorcan Fitz we did not do enough with the possession we had and Oola scored a third goal eight minutes from half time. It seemed an impossible task to come back from but Peter Nash kicked over two fine points to narrow the gap to eight points at half time, 3-3 to 0-4.

In the second half we defended better and attacked with purpose but struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard as Oola were prepared to sit and hit us on the counter attack. Up front Daniel Hannon & Chris McMahon came more into the game with Mike Delap, Jack O'Connell & Brian Howard all doing well in defence. Keeper Stephen Hodnett moved outfield for the second half and helped to bolster up thedefence. Oola kicked two early points before once again Peter Nash found a gap this time going through the defence and finding the back of the net for a wonderful goal. It was another eleven minutes though until we scored again by which time Oola had tacked on two more points to lead by nine points with ten minutes to go. That final score for Killulta was an excellent goal from Chris McMahon who caught the ball turned swiftly to finish the ball to the back of the net. While we had several half chances tonarrow the deficit, Oola defended manfully despite being a man down after a defender received a second yellow followed by a red card.

Sub keeper Martin Nunan did well, keeping a clean sheet in the second half and full back David Keating played well in front of him with Daniel Hannon showing well in the forward line but just not getting the break we so desperately needed. A much improved second half performance just wasn't to be enough as Oola saw out the remaing minutes and won by eight points, 3-9 to 2-4, to advance to a county final. Thanks to the management team, players and supporters who put in the effort this year.

Team: Stephen Hodnett, Jack O'Connell, David Keating, Lorcan O'Connor, Brian Howard, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Mike Delap, Shane O'Brien, Chris McMahon (1-0), Peter Nash (1-4), Darren Walsh, Edmund Nunan, Robert McKeogh, Daniel Hannon, Kieran Barrett. Sub: Martin Nunan.
Referee: Shane Hourigan (Rathkeale).