Olympic topple Killyleagh for derby delight

Olympic topple Killyleagh for derby delight

26 January 2022

BALLYNAHINCH Olympic achieved bragging rights in comfortable fashion as they swept aside a new-look Killyleagh side to run out 3-1 winners in this local derby on Saturday afternoon.

In a game that had pretty much everything, two goals from Niall Murray, including a speculative overhead kick, and an own goal proved enough to decide the outcome in favour of the home side at Kilmore playing fields.

A large turnout gathered ahead of kick off and with little wind and spells of sunshine, playing conditions were ideal for this highly anticipated contest.

Ballynahinch were almost gifted an early goal when a mix-up at the back resulted in Killyleagh ‘keeper Jack Coulter scuffing his clearance into the path of Olympic’s Niall Murray.

However, his headed effort was thwarted by a last ditch tackle from skipper Keegan Rice and the home side were unable to take advantage of the resultant corner.

Michael Burns looked lively up front for the YC, spraying some nice passes out wide to his overlapping wingers, but the Olympic defence stood firm.

A back pass collected by ‘Hinch ‘keeper Matthew McAllister resulted in referee Arleen Campbell awarding an indirect free-kick inside the area, although captain Rice saw his effort crash back off the Olympic wall.

As the clock neared 15 minutes the hosts really started to get a foothold on the game as a contest and began pushing their opponents deeper into their own half.

With this came chance after chance and the spectators could sense they may be moments away from an opening goal.

Ryan Molloy unleashed an audacious first-time volley from range that narrowly missed the target for his Ballynahinch outfit, before team-mate Nathan Jones cleverly jinked his way inside the right flank and curled a left footed effort onto the crossbar.

Killyleagh custodian Coulter produced a notable point-blank save from the shot of Olympic captain, Chris McNamara, to the applause of the crowd before the YC would take a brief break from defending and turnover possession.

As Killyleagh opted to go toe to toe with their neighbours, they were almost rewarded when Conor Hamilton attempted to round McAllister for an easy finish.

However, the Ballynahinch ‘keeper just got his foot to the ball and regained possession before launching a long pass up the pitch to Murray.

The Olympic number six found team-mate Jones, who was left with only Coulter to beat. To his dismay, his lowly driven effort sailed narrowly wide to complete the end to end passage of play.

The home side kept the pressure on and finally broke the deadlock on 33 minutes, after a long throw from Aaron McClean was flicked on by Jones and onto the head of Murray, who made no mistake when directing the ball past Coulter. 

Olympic doubled their lead just four minutes later through that man Murray again, only this time the 36 year-old showed he still had the acrobatic ability beyond his years within his arsenal.

After the ball looped invitingly into the air and with his back to goal, Murray decided to unleash an overhead kick that would find its target and hit the back of the net – albeit with help from a slight deflection.

That signified the last notable piece of action of the half, with the hosts returning to the changing rooms with their tails up.

On the restart, Killyleagh began the brighter of the two sides and ventured further into the opposing territory in search of a goal.

Olympic’s Jones picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Peter Russell before Declan McComiskey sprung into life for Killyleagh down the left wing and forced the Ballynahinch defence to quickly make decisions.

Despite this purple patch where Killyleagh looked as if they could manufacture a chance, the wind was knocked from their sails when Peter Strain took down Olympic’s McNamara with a foul that was judged to be cynical.

Strain was given his marching orders in the form of a red card and any momentum the YC had built was quickly diminished.

Killyleagh now looked to play the long ball and were resorting to shooting from range, as was evident in Naseem Ouldhamlat’s effort, which was comfortably gathered by McAllister.

Rice was the latest entry into the book for Killyleagh, collecting a yellow for a mistimed challenge as the hosts looked to put the game to bed.

Ryan Molloy was enjoying free rein down the right wing for Ballynahinch, with his strength and physique making it hard for the Killyleagh opposition to bully him off the ball.

With ten minutes left Dalton Tate battled successfully to win possession for the home side before finding team-mate McClean with a neat pass.

The Olympic number ten fired a cross along the ground and into the box that was unluckily diverted into the YC net by the visiting captain Rice as he attempted to clear the danger.

To their credit, Killyleagh never allowed their heads to and played valiantly until the final whistle.

The visitors were rewarded with a consolation when substitute Cameron Howard was brought down in the box by ‘keeper McAllister.

Howard stepped up to send the Ballynahinch number one the wrong way to briefly quieten the home support, but there would be no dramatic ending for the visitors as this rounded off the scoring.

Following the final whistle, man of the match Niall Murray gave his thoughts on his side’s performance.

“During the first 15 minutes 

Killyleagh were probably on top,” he said. “After that we got a foothold, scored two and then we coasted. Before they went down to ten men we had switched off again, but I think 3-1 flatters them.

“In fairness to them, they are young and hungry, they just lack that wee bit of experience but the main thing is they stick together through their period of transition,” he continued.

He added: “I know we still need to pick up more points but we will keep ticking over. The aim is to stay in the league, get away from trouble and kick on from there.”

Ballynahinch: M McAllister, R Molloy, J McClean, D Tate, J Noade, N Murray, N Jones, G McMullan, C McNamara (capt), A McClean, S King.

Subs: L Burns, N McMullan, A McLean.

Yellow cards: N Jones.

Killyleagh: J Coulter, P Strain, N Hamilton, K Rice (capt), F Walsh, R Blaney, N Ouldhamlat, P Russell, C Hamilton, M Burns, D McComiskey.

Subs: E Davidson, A Gilmartin, C Howard.

Yellow Cards:  K Rice.

Red cards: P Strain.

Referee: Arleen Campbell.