After a very long year Kildalkey played their final game of the year as they travelled up to Killyon to play the hosts on a bitterly cold December day last Saturday in the long awaited Donal O Lionsigh Cup final.

This game was to be played earlier but between fixture clashes and clashing with a wedding it never got played and so it ended up on Saturday.

2023 will go down as the greatest year ever for Kildalkey Hurling club but on Saturday they just couldn’t get going as Killyon were the far hungrier team from the off.

Mikey Mullan was their scorer in chief in a game where scores were hard to come by.

Kildalkey’s scores in the first half came from Mattie Cully with 3 frees and a point from play and 1 each for Kelvin Lynch and Cian Colhoun but we’re guilty of some bad wides on the day from play and frees but a Mullan goal left Killyon ahead at the break 1-5 to 0-6 

Although only trailing by 2 points and still well in the hunt Kildalkey looked tired and just couldn’t get a foothold in the game  .

Ross Flynn took over the frees and put 2 over but  Killyon replied with  a free and Kelvin Lynch got his second near the end to level up but a Mikey Mullan free with time almost up won the game for Killyon by the minimum 1-7 to 0-9 .

It was a day where both sets of backs were on top and while Sean Corrigan, Cian Colhoun and Matt Rickard gave their usual wholehearted displays we just couldn’t get enough scores on the board against a determined Killyon team.

Something that probably needs to be looked at and I think all clubs would agree is The first round of this competition was played on the 2nd of June and the final was on the 2nd  of December a full 6 months later and probably needs to be played off in the summer time of the year before the championship starts as it dragged on too long however no complaints from Kildalkey as Killyon were hungrier and wanted it more on the day.

For Kildalkey they get a well deserved break afte being on the road since January and have given their supporters some great days and wonderful entertainment all year .

Kildalkey team and scorers: C Flynn, T Bird, S Corrigan, M Browne, C Colhoun (0-1), A Traynor, M Rickard, R Byas, C Browne, K Lynch (0-2), R Flynn (0-2)(2f), A Rickard, M Cully (0-4)(3f), S Heavey, E Geoghegan 

Subs: E Potterton for A Rickard, E Keogh for E Geoghegan, D Lehart for M Cully

Tweet

Most Read Stories