Killeavy where they want to be says O’Hanlon

By Shaun Casey

AT the halfway point of the Division 1A league campaign, Killeavy currently rest at the top of the table with 10 points to show for their efforts and that’s exactly where they want to be says star man Ciaron O’Hanlon.

Killeavy, managed by club and county legend Steven McDonnell, are tied with reigning champions Clann Éireann and Madden but hold the number one spot thanks to their score difference in the mini league between all three teams.

O’Hanlon was the hero last Friday evening when Killeavy picked up their fifth win of the season. He nailed the final game-winning score as they came from behind to beat Mullaghbawn by the minimum of margins and face Silverbridge this week.

“That’s where we want to be and our final performance isn’t polished yet but we’re trying to play consistently for long parts of the game,” said O’Hanlon, an All-Ireland winner with the Orchard County last season.

“In the first half we were a wee bit all over the place and the second half the same. We couldn’t get to grips with the kickouts and stuff like that so there’s still lots of work to be done going into the second half of the league.”

Mullaghbawn are fighting for their lives at the other end of the table having just gained promotion last season by winning Division 1B, but gave as good as they got against Killeavy.

“It was a tough game, Mullaghbawn really came with it and put us to the sword but it’s good to just scrape through in the end. With the new rules, it’s pretty up and down and fitness comes into the play a lot.

“The boys that came off for us, we have a small enough squad as it is, so you want to try and keep as many boys injury free as possible and hopefully the boys aren’t too sore, and we’ll have them for the next day out.

“We were six up and then they got the goal, so we were going in three up and we knew there was a bit of a breeze going in Mullaghbawn’s favour in the second half. They have a few boys that can kick two-pointers, and we were aware of that.

“They managed to get a couple and I’m going to say that the wind didn’t play a massive factor in it but for their two-point shooters, and ours as well, there was a bit of a wind there throughout the whole game.”