An injury time free from Andy Farrelly earned Kilmainhamwood a share of the spoils in a gripping Intermediate Championship battle in Carnaross on Sunday. Ballinlough 1-9 Kilmainhamwood 1-9 Both sides will feel that they could have come away with the win, but in truth a draw was probably a fair result between two teams who have been relegated from the Senior Championship within the last couple of years. Ballinlough were left regretting a scoreless first quarter, where they dominated possession but hit seven wides before registering a score. At that stage Colm Gilcreest, Ken Russell and Ray Magee had all split the posts to give their opponents a three point lead from limited opportunities. Derek Muldoon then settled 'The Reds' with a couple of frees in the 16th and 20th minutes to leave them trailing 0-2 to 0-3. Ballinlough full-back Padraig Muldoon did an impressive man-marking job on Ray Magee for the majority of the contest, but the former county attacker was on hand to set up Colm Gilcreest for a goal to give his side a 1-3 to 0-2 lead after 22 minutes. The probing runs of Peadar Byrne drew numerous frees from the Kilmainhamwood defense but when Conor Briody found the county man in space he made no mistake blasting to the net from close range to leave his side trailing, 1-3 to 1-4, at the break. The half-time words of Ballinlough manager Ian Kearney seemed to have the desired effect as his team made a blistering start to the second half. Midfielder Cian Mallon made several spectacular catches and their forward unit rectified their shooting problems, hitting six points in a productive 12-minute period after the break, as they opened up a 1-9 to 1-5 lead. However, just when it seemed that they had clicked into the form that brought them to an Intermediate semi-final last year the scores dried up and they failed to add to their tally for the remaining 18 minutes. Midway through the second-half 'The Wood' introduced veteran Aidan Crosbie and he started to supply a previously starved forward line. They hit three unanswered points to reduce the deficit to the minimum and indeed they could have taken the lead but for a couple of top class saves by Ballinlough goalkeeper Keith Mc Guinness. With 60 minutes of action played they trailed, 1-8 to 1-9, but it was Farrelly who had the final say with a converted 25 yard free at the death. Ballinlough had good performances from Keith Mc Guinness, Padraig Muldoon, Eugene O' Reilly, Cian Mallon and Peadar Byrne. Best on the day for the Wood were Phillip Moran, Francis Owens, Colm Gilcreest and Stephen Smith. Kilmainhamwood: Michael Clarke, Padraig Barber, Stephen Smith,Damian Cunningham, Phillip Moran, Ciaran Shankey, Sean Mulligan,Liam Shankey, Andrew Farrelly(0-02 f), Padraic Owens(0-01), Francis Owens,Harry Corbally, Ken Rusell (0-01), Ray Magee (0-03, 1 f) , Colm Gilcreest (1-02). Subs: Michael Shankey for H Corbally (40 min), Aidan Crosbie for L Shankey (47 min) Ballinlough - K Mc Guinness; B Smith, P Muldoon, R Farrell, K Devine, E O' Reilly, T Mc Cullen, Cian Mallon, S Byrne, C Briody, D Muldoon (0-4, 0-2f), R Mc Guinness, K Mallon, P Byrne (1-2), Colm Mallon (0-2). Subs - K Rothwell (0-1) for Briody, E Smith for P Muldoon, V Ryan for K Mallon and J O' Reilly for D Muldoon. Tweet

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