Kildalkey 3-19 Kilskyre/Moylagh 2-14  (After Extra Time)

With Rathmolyon and Kilskyre pitch’s falling foul to the weather all roads led to Ballinlough for the Billy Byrne cup final on Saturday afternoon as holders Kildalkey and Kilskyre /Moylagh battled it out to see who would win this years final.

Kildalkey wore black armbands and a minutes silence was observed for former Kildalkey player John D Flynn who died earlier an old teammate of a lot of the older players.

It was Kilskyre/Moylagh who started the brightest and took the game to Kildalkey from the off with Tom Shine proving to be a handful from full forward hitting a goal and 2 points from play early in the game to add to his 4 frees 

Mattie Cully was equally prominent for the blues hitting 6 frees and 1 from play but they looked sluggish early on Derek Doran was the target for a lot of attacks and was unfortunate to only have a point to his name after going close to scoring goals only to be denied by good goalkeeping and stout defending.

Bit by bit Kildalkey got themselves into the game and only trailed by 2 points at the break  1-9 to 0-10. Maurice Keogh and Niall McNally got the other Kildalkey scores in the half.

Enda Keogh came on at halfback and he had a huge influence on the game cutting out a lot of Kilskyre attacks and was assisted greatly by Martin Doran Enda Fitzgerald and Tiernan Bird in a tough defence.

Kildalkey started better in the second half with another Niall McNally point from play and a Cully free  Derek Doran was then fouled for a penalty which Cully converted but a mistake let Kilskyre in for a slack goal and with 5 minutes remaining it was they that led by 3 and looking strong for the win but this kildalkey team don’t lie down and another Cully free another McNally point and a Gary Kelly point drew the sides level at Kildalkey 1-16 Kilskryre/Moylagh 2-13.

Kilskyre had 2 or 3 chances to win the game but their shots tailed wide to the relief of the sizeable Kildalkey support as referee Eamon Barry blew his whistle for full time and Extra Time was needed to find a winner.

Kildalkey attacked from the start and Cully converted a free within a minute Niall McNally carried the ball in from midfield the whole way in to the danger zone somehow the ball fell into Ducksy Doran’s hand and hit a bullet to the net to put his side 4 points up. Within minutes Ducksy had the net dancing again to put Kildalkey 7 points up at halftime in extra time 3-17 to 2-13. 

Kilskyre/Moylagh failed to score as the momentum shifted to the blues. 2 more scores were added as Cully added a free to bring his tally to 1 -12 for the day Kilskyre got in for a point and substitute Arron Traynor had the last say with a vicious shot that whizzed over the bar as the final whistle sounded and Kildalkey who haven’t lost a game in the Billy Byrne cup claimed it for the third year in a row winning by 3-17 to 2-14.

Martin O Halloran and Keith Byrne son of Billy a great Rathmolyon hurling man presented the cup to delighted captain Shane Reilly who accepted on behalf of his team mates to add to the Division 3 league and of course the IHC.

This team won All 3 competitions they entered this year and deserve great credit for their efforts in what has been a year to remember for every Kildalkey person.

Praise to Ballinllough too for having their pitch in such good condition after all the rain when no where else was playable and have continued to improve their facilities well done.

Kildalkey team and scorers: C Barry, S Reilly, E Fitzgerald, C McGourty, C Colhoun, M Doran, T Bird, K Lynch, N McNally (0-3), R Flynn, G Kelly (0-1), B Rickard, D Doran(2-1), M Keogh(0-1), M Cully(1-12)(11f)(1-0 pen)

Subs: C Fitzgerald for Reilly, E Keogh for McGourty , B Coneely for Rickard, W Power for Flynn, E Geoghegan for M Keogh, M Browne for Colhoun, A Traynor (0-1)for D Doran

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