Killavilla 1-11 Belmont 0-13

[Lone Shark]

Before I start to discuss this match, it’s probably best that I clear a few things up so that readers can have all the facts and make their own mind up. As a lot of you know, though some of you may not, Lone Shark is Ferbane man originally, and though exiled in Dublin for nearly a decade now, is still very much a follower of my own club as well as the county – which obviously enough, in hurling terms, is Belmont. With that in mind, there might be those who would feel inclined to suggest that what I am about to say is tinged with bias, though I genuinely feel in my heart that it is not. I have reported on Ferbane and Offaly games before and though I’ve never hid where my allegiance would lie, I’d like to think that I’ve always been impartial. It is my belief that most readers of this site would concur with this. However ultimately it is for each reader to make up their own mind, based on my by now reasonably extensive history of posting on this site. I leave it to each of you to do so.

What happened Saturday evening in Banagher was a travesty, and a disgusting example of how unsavoury tactics and blatant targeting of individual players can occasionally be rewarded. This was a match between two very moderate teams, teams that have little or no chance of featuring in the business end of the Offaly senior championship, and ultimately this game will have no bearing on who will lift the Sean Robbins cup in the Autumn. The standard was infinitely lower than was displayed in the following game (Birr vs K/K) and the watching John McIntyre will not be considering anyone county material on the strength of this match. However there was some good hurling in the game, and maybe 70% of it came from the Belmont side. Belmont are a team with two or three fine hurlers, several average hurlers, and a couple of players that can only be described as weak links or makeweights. Seeing as most of the catchment area of the club would consider football the main game, there is no shame in this. Killavilla in contrast had one star turn in Chris Moore at centre forward, two or three other impressive players, but no passengers to the same extent as Belmont.

As a result, ultimately for Belmont to win, they needed a big performance from the one player on the field who looks to have a serious intercounty future – Alan Egan. The 19 year old was on the back of an outstanding display against Shamrocks, and was very much the main weapon here again. Killavilla clearly knew this too, and their game plan was obvious from the start – he was to be taken out. This is not to say that they planned to mark him tightly, or aggressively, or cut off his supply, lest there be any ambiguity. Their plan was to flagrantly and shamelessly injure the teenager, to the point whereby walking, let alone his customary bursts of electric pace were beyond him.

To those who weren’t at the match, I put the facts forward. Killavilla players received one straight red and four yellow cards – all bar one of these cards were for dangerous and usually late challenges on Alan Egan. Among the yellows was a wild chop at his hand, and a sliding foot tackle with the studs showing. Both of these could and should have been straight reds.

The tackle that caused the straight red was one of the worst I have ever seen. Alan had skinned his marker and was bearing in on goal at about a 45 degree angle from the left hand side. Brian King was tracking back running in a straight line towards goal perpendicular to the end line. As Alan reached shooting range, with the ball in hand, King drew back the hurl, and pulled across the knees of Egan – with the blade of the hurl showing as if to take a sideline cut. With the ball in hand, this was clearly not an attempt at a legitimate tackle. Whether the intention was to merely put Alan out of this match, end his hurling career permanently or end his ability to walk permanently is an issue only King can answer. I have no hesitation in saying that it was one of the most malevolent acts I have ever seen on a hurling field, and a man who has the capacity to do this should never hurl again. I do not know Brian King, or anything about the man, and I have no doubt that he will have no shortage of people standing up for him saying how this was “out of character”, as invariably seems to be the case in these matters, but I have no hesitation in saying that I hope his suspension is long and that he never again gets the chance to maim an individual as he attempted here.

With all the above said, and to concentrate on the hurling, Belmont will be very annoyed they left this game behind them. At half time they had a man advantage, were two points to the good at 0-9 to 0-7, and had taken Brian Buckley out of the match in effect by forcing Killavilla management to pull him back to the corner to mark Alan Egan. That they didn’t close it out is a reflection of an inability on the part of any of the other forwards to really make a contribution to the scoreboard, at least from play, a poor level of tactical awareness on the sideline in persisting with leaving each side with a free man in the backs once both sides were reduced to fourteen, and an unforgivable lack of fitness on behalf of several players in the team. David Kenny can also take his share of the blame for getting sent off early in the second half. His wild swing at a loose ball did not share the same degree of ill-intent that permeated some of Killavilla’s “defending”, but it was still dangerous and worthy of the second yellow card he received on the day. Two frees were also missed by Paul Egan in the last quarter, though even here it was shameful to see members of the Killavilla bench shouting and heckling him as he was taking the frees, to the point of actually distracting the referee and jostling him for one free on the sideline, in a fashion best left to proponents of professional wrestling rather than hurling.

Credit is also due to Chris Moore in no uncertain terms, who was utterly dominant in the centre forward position, and missed only one free, that from over sixty five metres, on his way to accumulating 1-8. His was a fine nerveless display, and he kept his side in touch the whole way through. His score just before half time where a loose ball was bouncing across him around thirty metres out and he pulled first time under pressure to put it over the bar was without doubt the finest score of the day, and a joy to behold.

Before concluding, Lone Shark will hold his hand up and acknowledge that this was his first time to see Killavilla in action in the Offaly Senior Championship, so perhaps this was a one off. However the systematic nature of the fouling would suggest that this was management instructed, and as such it is hard not to hope that Tullamore and Shamrocks do what Belmont failed to do and despatch this team back to intermediate as soon as possible.

Finally, to any posters or lurkers on this site with Killavilla connections who disagree with anything that’s been said above, or even neutral observers/supporters there for the second game who feel I’ve gone overboard, I would ask and encourage that you use this forum to make your feelings public. I’ll willingly debate anything I’ve raised, and would be very interested to hear how anyone could fail to condone the appalling behaviour that passed for Killavilla hurling in Banagher on Saturday evening. I don’t expect to be converted though.

Teams:
Killavilla: Niall Meagher; Enda Dooley, Nevan Phelan, Brian King; Peter Hogan, Bryan Buckley, Eoin Meagher; Darragh Hogan (0-1), Eamon Phelan; Eoin Quinlan, Chris Moore (1-8, 0-5 frees), David King; John Dooley (0-1), Kevin Dooley, Kevin King.

Belmont: Declan Nugent; John Egan, James Murphy, Tom Coleman; Harry Kearns, Jason Clancy, Ciarán Kenny; Kevin Flynn (0-1), Ronan Daly; Declan Murphy, Thomas Bennett (0-2), Paul Egan (0-6, 0-5 frees); David Kenny (0-1), Alan Clancy, Alan Egan (0-3).
Sub: Derek Kenny for Declan Murphy.
Referee: Pat Horan