Kilbride 3-13 Boardsmill 2-15

Kilbride entertained last year's Junior A relegation final opponents on a balmy night in round 11 of the A league. Like previous outings, Kilbride started slowly and found themselves 4 points to one down after the opening 10 mins of play. Boardsmill were winning the midfield battle which was giving them a strong foothold  in the opening stages but the home team battled back to get within a point of the visitors with scores from Conor Doyle & Ross Tormey. However, Boardsmill put a halt to the comeback with a goal on 13 mins which came from indecisive play in the Kilbride forward line.

Kilbride rallied and replied with a goal of their own from Conor Storey and 2 more points from Ross Tormey to leave the score at 1-7 to 1-5 in favour of the away team. The first half was certainly one where the home team gave a Jeckal & Hyde performance & were lucky to be only 2 points behind.

The 2nd half started in the same manner as the first half ended with the home team on the attack but 5 wides with in the first 10 minutes put the home team in trouble as the visiting team took full advantage by kicking 4 unanswered points. Kilbride eventually got off the mark with points from Tormey (2) which left the scores at 1-11 to 1-7 in Boardsmills favour. The away team were finding gaps in the Kilbride defence & kicked another 4 points before two points from Tormey and another from Jeff Sheridan gave Kilbride some hope. Calum McGovern & Conor Redmond were also introduced for the home team but nearly straight away Boardsmill looked to have killed off Kilbride by finishing off a great team move to the net to leave the score 2-15 to 1-10.

8 points down with 9 minutes to play would have downed any team but Kilbride have shown over the last couple of months that they will keep going to the end. Conor Doyle & Tormey added points before Doyle pounced to side-foot a Craig Sheridan pass to the Boardsmill net. With 4 minutes on the clock and the scores at 2-15 to 2-11, a high ball from Ross Tormey was contested on the edge of the square by Brian White who was fouled by the Boardsmill full back & the Referee duly pointed to the spot. Kilbride were reduced to 14 men before sub Calum McGovern coolly converted the spot kick which left a single score between the side as the game ticked towards 60 minutes.

Filled with confidence the home team won the resulting kicked out & from the same attack were awarded a free 5 yards in from the side line on the 14 yard line. With a near impossible angle facing him, David O Leary stepped up & kicked the most exquisite free seen in Kilbride for many a day to level the scores. Yet again Kilbride won the resulting kick out & with the move going from one side of the field to the other the ball was brilliantly retained & eventually ended in the hands of experienced Craig Sheridan who slotted over what would turn out to be the winning score from 35 yards.  The comeback was completed when the Referee blew his final whistle after the ever green Brian White won the resulting kickout to scenes not witnessed in Kilbride for a long time. It may only be a league game but a comeback & win will further boost the confidence of a panel who are working hard for one another.

Best for Kilbride were Peter Roche, Gareth Lynch, Stephen Walsh, Craig Sheridan, Brian White & Ross Tormey. There were notable contributions from the 4 subs David O Leary, Jeff Sheridan, Conor Redmond & penalty scorer Calum McGovern.

Kilbride: Emmet Farrell, Dean Stapleton, John Smith, Peter Roche, John Tuohy, Karl Stapleton, Gareth Lynch, Ollie Nolan, Craig Sheridan (0-1), Jonny McIvor, Brian White, Stephen Walsh (0-1), Conor Storey (1-0), Ross Tormey (0-7), Conor Doyle (1-2). Subs: David O Leary 0-1 for Tuohy, Jeff Sheridan (0-1) for McIvor, Conor Redmond for Storey, Calum McGovern (1-0) for K Stapleton

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