Kildangan made it three wins in a row with a hard earned victory over neighbours Ballykelly on Friday night.

It was tit-for-tat in the opening quarter with Daniel Gilbert (2 frees) and Mark O’Donovan getting on the Kildangan scoresheet to leave the sides level at three points each. A Stephen Murtagh interception in our full back line started a move that ended with Sean Behan slotting the ball beneath the Ballykelly goalkeeper to put us 1.3 to 0.3 ahead.

After a period of stalemate Mark and Daniel swapped points with the home side again as we went in 1.5 to 0.5 ahead at the break.

Straight from the throw in, Ballykelly broke forward and pointed when a goal might have been on. Oisin Irvin opened the gap to four with two superb points and Conor Corrigan was unlucky to be denied a goal chance soon after as the home defence swarmed around him.

Ballykelly then got a grip on the game and, having reduced the deficit to two points, were awarded a penalty. While we had no doubt that Sean Fitzgerald would have saved it, we were still relieved to see the ball go just outside the post and wide!

A Sean Behan free settled our nerves but Ballykelly reduced it to the minimum as we entered the last ten minutes of the game. Daniel Gilbert and Mark O’Donovan stretched our lead to three before Sean Behan netted his second goal of the game after Kildangan debutant, Paddy Behan (Sean’s father!), had combined with Eoin O’Fearghaill to put him through.

A late Ballykelly reply was cancelled out when Killian Scully capped a fine performance with a well taken point in the dying moments as the game finished 2.11 to 0.11 in our favour.

It was a very entertaining game with some good play and fine scores by both sides. Both management teams will feel that the game was a very worthwhile exercise and one they may look to repeat later in the year.

Moment of the Match:

Sean Behan’s first goal mid-way through the first half. It came at a critical point in the game when the teams were level and gave us a lead that we never surrendered.

Man of the Match:

I’ll have to go for Sean Behan again! Scoring 2.1 in a game where he played in the same full forward line as his father for the first time made it a day to remember for the Behan boys.

Kildangan

Sean Fitzgerald; Stephen Murtagh, Bryan Adams, Damien Cairns; Killian Scully (0.1), Adam Balmer, Luke McKenna; Eoin O’Fearghaill, Daniel Gilbert (0.4); Mark O’Donovan(0.3), Oisin Irvin (0.2), Alan Donoher; Conor Corrigan, Paddy Behan, Sean Behan (2.1). Subs: Kian Murray for Conor Corrigan; Cian Murtagh for Paddy Behan

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