As the league progressed this year, it became increasingly obvious that Kildangan were set to face their Abbey Rangers counterparts in this year’s Hanlon Concrete Division 4 Shield Final. With it being Kildangan’s first year back playing Senior Football League, the Shield Final would always have been one of the main goals for 2025.

The last time these two sets of supporters made the journey to Manguard Park, they cheered side by side as the Abbey Rangers minor team beat Monasterevin in the league final, but this time they found themselves on opposite sides of the fence, former & current teammates found themselves on opposite sides of the battle. For the next couple of hours, friendships were left aside.

Ballykelly kicked things off with the opening 3 points of the game. Cian Reilly was quick to respond with a two-pointer and Daniel Gilbert levelled the scores shortly after. Some excellent marshalling from Kildangan’s full back, Adam Balmer, saw Sean Fitzgearld in goals have an easy start to the game. A superbly placed goal from Kerryman, Conor Corrigan, lifted the spirits of the Kildangan crowd as they found themselves 3 points to the good. Ballykelly nicked one back but Mark O’Donovan & Daniel Gilbert cancelled that out quickly enough. Despite some superb defending from captain Eoghan O’Fearghaill & Oisin Hyland with his new found form, Ballykelly pushed on to score the next 5 points of the game to put them 2 points ahead, but 2 points from Cian Reilly & a point from Oisin Irvin saw Kildangan go into the half-time break a point ahead.

Half Time Score:

Kildangan 1.08

Ballykelly 0.11

Ballykelly brought the scores back level with the first point of the second-half, but Daniel Gilbert didn’t like the look of the scoreboard and took matters into his own hands as he rattled the net with a goal to put Kildangan 3 points ahead. Thomas Browne & Killian Scully kept their markers quiet in the full back line and 18 year olds, Darragh Murphy & Paddy Neary (on his senior debut), put on an excellent display of both defending & attacking from wing back. Conor Corrigan & Mark O’Donovan added to their point tally with a point each and Kildangan now had the biggest lead of the game so far. Eanna Sherlock & Killian Reilly’s battling in midfield played a massive role in Kildangan’s ‘purple patch’ as they linked the defence & attack superbly. Ballykelly snatched the next 3 points of the game before they won themselves a penalty which they tucked away nicely. Kildangan now found themselves in a predicament, less than ten minutes remained & Ballykelly had both the lead & momentum, or so they thought, Adam Balmer, Paddy Neary & Eoghan O’Fearghail were real leaders over the next 6/7 minutes as they battled to keep Kildangan just one point behind Ballykelly. With less than 2 minutes remaining, Daniel Gilbert stepped up and put the sides level. However, Ballykelly soon responded and found themselves in the driver’s seat 2 minutes into additional time. Kildangan did not give up though, Cian Reilly kicked a massive point from play and brought the scores level well into injury time. Both sides traded attacks with no result over the next few minutes and after an astonishing 9 minutes of injury time the referee blew the full time whistle, extra time was to follow!

Full Time Score:

Kildangan 2.12

Ballykelly 1.15

The first half of extra time threw in and Kildangan wasted no time, Kildangan’s ‘bear in the square’, Kevin McNally, found himself under a high ball just in front of goal, and in typical Kevin McNally fashion he threw his fist in towards the ball and into the net. What a start to extra time! Newcomer, Paddy Neary, showed his class with a score on his senior debut, before Ballykelly got 2 points back leading into half time of extra time.

Half Time (ET) Score:

Kildangan 3.13

Ballykelly 1.17

Kevin McNally took it upon himself to start the second half of extra time the same way he started the first as he bagged his second goal of the game. Some excellent defending by Kildangan in this period saw the sides held at 5 point apart. Daniel Gilbert slotted over his final score of the game before Ballykelly managed to score 1.02 in the closing minutes, but it wasn’t enough to come back and Kildangan were crowned 2025 Division 4 Senior Football League Shield Winners!

Full Time Score (AET): 

Kildangan 4.14

Ballykelly 2.19

This shield win marked a significant moment in the history of Kildangan GAA, winning our first title in the Senior Football League in almost 100 years, with the last recorded league final victory being in the Junior League Final in 1930. As previously stated, the goal coming back into the Senior Football League again would always have been set as winning the Division 4 shield, that’s one box ticked, onto the championship now, and this young & ambitious Kildangan team will have their eyes set on winning a Junior A title!

Well done lads, you’re putting Kildangan back on the footballing map.

This match report would not be complete without commending Ballykelly for the superb battle they put up against us and the ability for both clubs to compete at this level can largely be credited to the success of Abbey Rangers over the last 9 and a half years. We are sure we will be meeting them again at before the year is out. A massive congratulations to Ballykelly’s two star men on the day, Ciaran Byrne & Darragh Byrne, who both came the whole way through the Abbey Rangers setup from u13 to minor. 

Man of the match: Daniel Gilbert - Daniel scored 1.04 with 1.03 of that coming from play. He was a real leader on the day and his goal was an absolute rocket, coming at crucial stage just after half time when the scores were level. He has found a new form these last couple of games as an inside forward, emulating his former role in the team when he first started playing senior at ….. 18 of course.

Kildangan Starting IX; Sean Fitzgearld, Thomas Browne, Adam Balmer, Oisin Hyland, Killian Scully, Eoghan O’Fearghaill, Darragh Murphy, Eanna Sherlock, Killian Reilly, Mark O’Donovan (0.02, 0.01F), Cian Reilly (0.05, 0.01 F), Conor Corrigan (1.01), Oisin Irvin (0.01), Daniel Gilbert (1.04, 0.01F), Ieuan Sweeney

Subs; Kevin McNally (2.00), John Kelly, Paddy Neary (0.01)

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