Draw gives both hope

BOTH these teams would have desperately wanted to win and in the wake of Listry’s defeat of Ballydonoghue, a win would probably have sent either through to the semi-finals with a game to spare.

High stakes stuff then and with the stakes so high should we be surprised that they drew, giving both a chance of topping the group going into the final round of fixtures?

Probably not, but this really was a game that could have gone either way. Churchill will probably feel at home they should have won it as a matter of fact, the concession of three goals will sting them. On the flip side Skellig were a point up before a last minute free from Churchill’s Micheal O’Brien gave the home side the least they deserved in this entertaining game.

Churchill held a well deserved five point lead at the break (1-9 to 0-7) following an Ivan Parker goal. The second half was all action. Skellig burst out of the traps at the start of the second half and 1-2 from the impressive Ciaran Keating to a solitary Churchill free, reduced the deficit to a single point.

Interestingly all of Churchill’s eight points in the second half came from frees from Micheal O’Brien. Churchill opened up a three point lead, but Skellig substitute Martin O’Sullivan fisted the ball to the net from a Keating pass into the area to tie the game.

Again Churchill rallied and opened a two point lead approaching full time. Skellig kept going and when Ciaran Keating received the ball 20m out, he finished to the net from a difficult angle to give the visitors a one point lead that didn’t last long.

Anthony Sweeney(Listry) pursued by Diarmuid Behan and Micheal Foley, Ballydonoghuehue Photo by Tom O’Donoghue