League

Ballybrew
Spectators: 5000 (Terracing: 4000, Seating: 1000, VIP seats: 0) Ballybrew's Kealan Grant started the match with a crisp pass. The crowd had been anticipating this game for weeks and the excitement in the stadium was easily visible. Barnaby Caffey came out of the goal in the 5th minute to try and stop a shot by Kilkea Utd's Bracken Mulvihill. But to his dismay, Bracken Mulvihill quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 0-1. Gearalt McAlphie made a fantastic save in the 12th minute, when Kealan Grant sent off a good shot on target. 14 minutes had been played when some careless play by Kilkea Utd's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Raymond Ramsey was slow to take the kick. During this time Ballybrew's players had a chance to rest. Kilkea Utd's Sean Benson managed, thanks to a brazen rush, stole the ball on a throw-in made by Shea Bayes in the 17 minute of the game. Barnaby Caffey showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Bracken Mulvihill in the 21st minute of the match. Barnaby Caffey took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Bracken Mulvihill, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. 26 minutes into the match, Bracken Mulvihill notched a goal, 0-2, to the right of Ballybrew's Barnaby Caffey. Barnaby Caffey was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. After a defensive mix-up in Ballybrew's zone, Bracken Mulvihill stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. Barnaby Caffey came out of the goal and Bracken Mulvihill tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. Pierson Duggan made in the 32nd minute of the game a throw-in that took a bad bounce and was taken care of by Kilkea Utd's Sean Benson. In the 34th minute, Finnigan Ramsey left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Ballybrew fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 1-2. The audience was convinced that Bracken Mulvihill's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Barnaby Caffey was relentless in the 38th minute of the game. A collision led to Ballybrew getting a freekick after 40 minutes play. Pierson Duggan hit a great ball. Disappointed in the 1-3 score, the home team went to the dressing room to adjust tactics for the second half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Bracken Mulvihill to make the kick off. 53 minutes had been played when some careless play by Ballybrew's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Kevis Mullan was slow to take the kick. During this time Kilkea Utd's players had a chance to rest. A well-hit corner resulted in Russ McDecland heading the ball towards the goal, but to his dismay he misdirected it and missed the goal completely. After having played for 55 minutes, Binnech Keegan managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Kilkea Utd's supporters crossed their fingers, but Binnech Keegan was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. The supporters of Ballybrew booed when Kilkea Utd was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 57 match minutes in a wonderful position. Harrigan Hunt didn't get a good kick on the ball. Gearalt McAlphie made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Kealan Grant in the 64th minute of play. If Finnigan Ramsey had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 69th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. In the 71st minute Bracken Mulvihill shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Barnaby Caffey saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Ballybrew's Barnaby Caffey played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Bracken Mulvihill in the 72nd minute of play. Binnech Keegan sent away a hard shot on goal in the 76th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. In the 77th minute, Kealan Grant left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Ballybrew fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 2-3. Kealan Grant fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 82nd minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Gearalt McAlphie having to interfere. In the 84th minute Kealan Grant shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Gearalt McAlphie saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. If Binnech Keegan had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 89th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. In the 93rd minute, Bracken Mulvihill ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Barnaby Caffey was frozen by the shot and now it was 2-4. Kilkea Utd played a much better game than Ballybrew and deserved their victory. The Ballybrew players were clearly disappointed as they left the ground.