Match report by Kieran Lynch
Keady 1-15 Ballymacnab 1-11
Barry Molloy’s goal five minutes from the end was the crucial score as Keady defeated Ballymacnab by four points.
The sides traded the lead back and forth throughout a tense second half. But Molloy’s three-pointer put Keady in the ascendancy before Sean Woods – who top-scored with 0-6 – put the icing on the cake with the final shot of the game.
The game threw-in in the midst of miserable conditions in Clady. Both sides had to deal with a heavy downpour and driving wind. The opening scores were traded by Tomas Galvin and Ryan Watters, before Keady hit a purple patch and pulled clear.
They moved five ahead following points from Woods, a Ryan Donnelly two-pointer, Galvin again and a James O’Hara free. Ballymacnab wrestled back control with a Watters two-pointer followed up by an Oisin McGivern point.
But Keady remained the more clinical side in front of the posts. Woods and O’Hara converted frees before Shea Harvey restored their five-point advantage at 0-9 to 0-4.
However, with half-time approaching, Galvin received a black card and playing with a man extra, Ballymacnab had their best period of the game in the minutes either side of the interval.
A Pearse Hughes point put four between the teams before they opened the second half with Dominic McParland finding the mark.
Goal
Then, Paul Kennedy was brought down inside the square and a penalty was awarded. Pearse Hughes stepped up to the mark, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and levelled the game.
A Watters free put the Nab in front for the first time in the game. With Galvin returning to the action, Keady settled back into the game with their marksman Woods levelling the contest.
McParland (free) and Harvey traded scores, before Ballymacnab were momentarily reduced to 14 men with Rory Grugan receiving a black card.
Although the next score went Keady’s way via Woods, the Nab managed the black card well, with Kieran Hughes converting a free. When Grugan returned, his first involvement was to tap over a free and restore his side’s one-point lead.
Woods responded for Keady and the game was all square with five minutes to go. Extra-time was looming, but Molloy had other ideas. He drove through the middle of the Ballymacnab defence and superbly finished beyond Conor McGivern and into the bottom corner to put three between the sides.
With time ticking away, Conor Reneghan and Watters (free) traded scores, but Ballymacnab couldn’t find the goal they needed to take the game into extra-time. Instead, they were knocked out of the Championship with Woods landing the final dagger for the victors.