Kilmihil reach first minor final since 1995

Kilmihil 0-11 Kilmurry-Ibrickane 1-7

Eight points down four minutes into the second half, Kilmihil’s participation in the 2011 minor A county football final was nestling firmly in the ‘highly unlikely’ category.
Kilmurry-Ibrickane had led 1-5 to 0-1 at half-time and when Niall Hickey pointed his fourth free early in the second half, the game looked up for Kilmihil.
Their chances of reaching their first minor A final since 1995 looked as likely as an Irish man and a Greek being handed control of the IMF for a month.
Darren Sexton scored Kilmurry’s goal from the penalty spot 13 minutes before half-time.
Sexton himself was fouled and he buried the penalty, which actually went through the net at the scoreboard end in Doonbeg.
Sexton also pointed from play in the first half, while Aaron Murrihy, along with Niall Hickey, was Kilmurry’s other first half scorer as Kilmurry took advantage of a strong wind.
Martin O’Leary was Kilmihil’s only scorer in the opening half. He pointed from a free after centre-back Jack Browne had been fouled.
Once they settled down after half-time, Kilmihil completely took over at midfield.
This led to Martin O’Leary being ­supplied with much more regular possession and he was the main factor behind Kilmihil’s superb second half display.
The Kilmihil full-forward pointed crucial scores from frees and a couple of sublime late points.
Three minutes from full-time O’Leary levelled it 1-6 to 0-9 with a classy point before landing an ever better point from 40 yards, two minutes into injury time.
That put Kilmihil two points up and left Kilmurry needing a goal. Kieran O’Neill managed a late point but it wasn’t enough to knock Kilmihil off their stride.
Conor Egan and substitute Ronan Flaherty also scored critical second-half points for the winners, who will now play Ennistymon in the county final.
On a day when Kilmihil showed admirable character in fighting back, Martin O’Leary was unquestionably the best footballer on the field. He was, however, greatly aided by Alan Dalton at full-back, midfielders Niall Pender and Stan Lineen and centre-forward Daniel Blake.
Kilmurry’s best performers were Keith Sexton, who worked very hard, centre-back Paudie Lynch in the first half and John McNamara, who gave it everything. 

Kilmihil: Mattie Keane; Stephen Coughlan, Alan Dalton, Conor Flaherty; Diarmuid Lorigan, Jack Browne, David Coughlan; Stan Lineen, Niall Pender; Conor Egan, Daniel Blake, Cormac Denehy; Conor Finnucane, Martin O’Leary, Gearóíd Johnson.
Sub: Ronan Flaherty for Gearóid Johnson.
Scorers: Martin O’Leary (0-8, 0-5f); Ronan Flaherty, Conor Egan, Niall Pender (0-1) each.
Wides: 6; Frees won: 12; 45s: 1.
Yellow cards: Conor Flaherty, Conor Finnucane.

Kilmurry Ibrickane: Darragh Pender; Kieran O’Neill, Ciaran Morrissey, Shane Kavanagh; Danny Murphy, Paudie Lynch, Conor Killeen; Niall Hickey, John McNamara; Gary Sexton, Adrian Murrihy, Diarmuid Downes; Aaron Murrihy, Darren Sexton, Keith Sexton.
Sub: Darren Callinan for Diarmuid Downes.
Scorers: Niall Hickey (0-4f), Darren Sexton (1-1), Aaron Murrihy, Kieran O’Neill (0-1) each.
Wides: 4; Frees won: 28; 45s: 2.
Yellow cards: Keith Sexton, Darren Sexton.

Referee: Michael McGann, Michael Cusack’s.