Junior B team slow start costs them against city side  St Columbus

Kilnadeema/Leitrim 1.12  St Columbus 1.12

The first taste of Championship hurling for Kilnadeema/Leitrim Junior B team in 2008 arrived in Ardrahan on Sunday May 11th when they took on city side St Columbus (Mervue/Renmore). With a lot of players having moved to Intermediate level this year it left the team a bit short , but still had plenty of good hurlers to do the business. St Columbus who have not done very well in recent years certainly looked a useful side this time with full Forward Shane Walsh a real star who would have not looked out of place with a senior team. St Columbus shot the opening three points of the game, two from play from Shane Walsh, Peter Atkins and a long range free from Des O'Halloran.  Jason Collins replayed for Kilnadeema/Leitrim on 7 mins. before Shane Walsh really showed how good he is as a Full Forward scoring a brilliant goal to put his side five points up. Kilnadeema/Leitrim replyed instantly to this goal with two good points from Ruairi Costello and Cathal Shiel. Frankie Burke then reduced the gap to a goal with a brilliant point from long range. Shane Walsh and Tony Kelly exchanged points before Cathal Shiel put two between them close to half time. Des O'Halloran had the final say with a point from a 65 to leave his side ahead at the break 1.06 to 0.06. The second half was very well contested with victory possible for both sides at different stages. Shane Walsh and Kevin Molloy both shot pointed free's before Tony Kelly scored a point from play after 5 mins. Then we were treated to a quiet wonderful piece of skill as Shane Walsh scored a tremendous goal into the top corner of the net to put the city side five point in front again. Jim Murphy, Shane Walsh again and Peter Atkins soon had that stretched to eight. Kilnadeema/Leitrim finally got going after this and showed what they could do with some brilliant scores. First Tony Kelly with his third point and two from substitute Michael Geargthy, both from play. Then we saw another mighty goal, this time from Kilnadeema/Leitrim's Ruairi Costello to reduce the margin to just two. Kevin Molloy with a free soon left it at the minimum with six minutes to play. From here to the finish it was hectic with both sides anxious for the win. The final score of the game fell fittingly to man of the match Shane Walsh with a pointed free to leave the scoreboard reading 2.11 to 1.12. For Kilnadeema/Leitrim this team has the ability to recover and finish well in the group yet.

Scorers: Ruairi Costello 1.01, Tony Kelly 0.03, Kevin Molloy 0.02, Cathal Shiel 0.02, Michael Geargthy 0.02, Frankie Burke 0.01, Jason Collins 0.01.

Team Lineout: Noël Callagy, mark Costello, Mark Whelan, Shane Geargthy, Padraig McLoughlin, Ruairi Conneely,  Ian Burns, Jason Collins, Fergal Conneely, Frankie Burke, Tony Kelly, John Geargthy, Kevin Molloy, Ruairi Costello, Cathal Shiel.
Subs used: Cathal Farrell, Michael Geargthy, David Spaight.

To view over 30  photographs of these two games click here>>