Young guns leading the way for Killeavy says O’Hanlon

By Shaun Casey

THE influx of some talented youngsters into the Killeavy senior squad is one of the reasons that Steven McDonnell’s men are now top contenders in Armagh, according to club stalwart Ciaron O’Hanlon.

Killeavy earned a commanding victory over Carrickcruppen last weekend to book their spot in the championship semi-finals, where near-neighbours Dromintee await.

Youngster Fergal Boylan was the star man for Killeavy, and he racked up 1-7 while the likes of Aron Magennis and Tiarnan Brown came off the bench. All three were members of the Armagh U20 squad this season.

Add in the experience of O’Hanlon, along with county men like Gareth Murphy and Shea Magill, and Killeavy are currently a force to be reckoned with.

“It makes it easy for the older lads like me to have them running around the field,” the 2024 All-Ireland winner O’Hanlon joked following their 3-21 to 2-7 quarter-final win.

“They have been outstanding and they’ve really stepped up and shown leadership. I think it’s a nice added ingredient that we needed in the team so fair play to them.

“They have really embraced that wee bit of pressure in terms of getting scores on the board, and they’ve really stepped up in that department and took that on their shoulders so long may it continue.”

The scoring power that Killeavy have in their arsenal will challenge any defence left in the competition. They had nine different players get their name on the scoresheet last Sunday afternoon.

Boylan is the main man, but Kealan McDonnell, Niall Magennis, Ronan McGuinness, Caolan McConville and O’Hanlon himself all have the potential to rack up big scores.

“It’s something that has come from the management team (which includes Down coach and 2010 All-Star Marty Clarke), they encourage us to take the shot on when the chance presents itself,” O’Hanlon continued.

“Again, we had another good spread of scorers throughout the team and that has been something we’ve worked on all year, so it’s huge to get plenty of names on the scoresheet and keep the scoreboard ticking over.”

On their comfortable victory, getting their name in the semi-final hat was the most important thing and O’Hanlon was happy they were able to do that.

“That was the main priority coming into today, obviously to get the performance. But whether you win ugly or win well, it’s all about being in the pot for the next round and we’re happy with that.”