*Conor Cleary was central to Kilmaley’s round one win. Photograph: Brian Culbert
ALTHOUGH they produced the comeback of the round in the opening batch of games, Kilmaley manager Brian Culbert insists it’s back to square one as they aim to pick up successive victories this weekend.
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A twelve point turnaround saw Kilmaley come from eleven points down to beat Ballyea by a single point in a memorable win.
Reflecting on the win, Kilmaley manager Culbert stated, “It was nuts really. It’s a second half that we just gathered momentum. I suppose the early goal helped us and we probably got the next few scores after it and just got on a but of a roll after that. The difference in that second half was that we weren’t giving Ballyea the time in the middle third to get their hands on the ball and get it into their inside forwards as we had been doing in the first.
“I suppose we asked them at half-time to man up and up the work-rate and start doing what they weren’t doing in the first half so to their credit they did do that and we got the result. Momentum helped and it was probably the quickest half of hurling I was ever involved in and then the last four minutes of injury-time were probably the longest four minutes ever just trying to hold onto the lead. Look realistically it could have been a draw or we could have lost by a point so it was great to come out on the right side of the result”.
There was great euphoria with the manner of Kilmaley’s victory but Culbert insisted a line has been drawn over it with focus now on Cratloe. “It’s back to square one for everyone in the group. The way this group could pan out, everyone could have a win after two matches and it will be all to play for in the final round. The only way to guarantee getting out of this group is to win your three games so while it’s definitely a plus to have won your first game, it really won’t mean a lot unless you can add to it”.
He added, “We’re facing Cratloe next and with new players coming through this year, they’re probably even stronger than they were when we met them in the final group game so we’ll need to be better than today that’s for sure”.
Conor Cleary’s showing at centre forward was central to their first round win, the Sixmilebridge man maintained. “The lads in the half-forward line worked back and I must say that Conor Cleary must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch. He was a real nuisance for them and it was that work-rate and drive that helped us get on a roll at the right time. Look, it was a funny game because it there was no half-time whistle Ballyea would have probably gone on to win the game by 30 points so that’s the madness of this game today”.
From what he witnessed in the first half of round one, he said the Ballyea of old was visible. “It was the Ballyea of a couple of years ago again in the first half. They were just in our face, they were tackling and hunting every ball down in packs and it was just impossible for us to get any sort of rhythm or play going. And they [Ballyea] were still working just as hard in the second half but we had upped our game just as much and we got a lot of traction especially from breaks on their puck-outs. Look, everything they hit in the first half went over while it was the exact same for us in the second half. Tony Kelly was just unstoppable on the day too though. I mean every ball he got he either scored or made a score for someone else so to come out on top in a game in which he’s at the top of his game like that is a good day”.
