Longwood and Killyon will have to meet again to determine who will go to their winter break as Senior B champions.  

Sunday afternoon’s first instalment was thoroughly absorbing and exciting with sixty three minutes not sufficient to separate the teams.

Conditions were utterly miserable; heavy overnight rain left the pitch is a sodden state and while the rain eased a little during the game, underfoot conditions and a slippery sliotar made things very difficult for both sets of players.  Mistakes were plentiful on both sides but it only added to the excitement.

Longwood started well and early scores from the Healy brothers, Ryan Moore and Kevin Heagney had them 0-5 to 0-3 ahead after twelve minutes.  Killyon responded well and dominated the remainder of the half.  Dylan Farrell and Keith Keoghan got the scoreboard ticking and they reeled off six of the next seven points to take a 0-9 to 0-6 lead to the dressing rooms.

The early stages of the second half saw Killyon maintain a degree of control with Dylan Farrell again prominent.  Longwood may not have been at their best, but they dug in and used all their experience to claw their way back into the game.  Two frees from Anthony Healy and an excellent Ryan Moore point had them level.  Killyon pushed on again with three more Farrell points, including one spectacular effort from the sideline, and looked poised to take victory as they held a three-point lead with just five minutes to play.  

But Longwood were not in the mood to give up and late points from Damien and Anthony Healy saw them snatch a draw.  

Credit to both sets of players.  The elements were not conducive to fast flowing hurling, but on days like this all their supporters wanted to see was honesty and effort, and both were served up in abundance.  

Such conditions often tend to suit defenders and so it proved with Jake Ryan, Keith Keoghan and Harry Smyth very prominent for Killyon while Mickey Burke, Niall Mulvey and Joe Stenson shone brightest for Longwood.  

The replay has been fixed for Saturday afternoon @ 1:00 in Páirc Tailteann.

We go again…………….

Longwood: Mark Kennedy, Gavin Griffith, Niall Mulvey, Brian Stagg, Joe Stenson, Mickey Burke, Sean Sheridan, Billy Hogan, Sean Coloe, Kevin Heagney (0-1), Damien Healy (0-2), Ryan Moore (0-2), Ben McLoughlin, Anthony Healy (0-8), Conor M Dixon.  Subs: Conor Dixon for Sean Sheridan, Harry Hogan for Conor M Dixon, Aaron Ennis for Gavin Griffith, Tomás O’Brien for Ben McLoughlin, Enda Dixon, David Coloe, Adrian Maguire, Thomas Dorran, Ross Healy