Kilmurry Power Past Buttevant for County Title
Under the Friday night lights at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Kilmurry didn’t just win a county title. They erased a ghost.
A 2-18 to 0-10 dismantling of Buttevant in the McCarthy Insurance Group IAFC final sealed a third county crown in four seasons and pushed the Muskerry club into the third tier of Cork football. The hurt of that 1995 intermediate defeat to Dohenys can finally be parked. This is a very different Kilmurry.
Lightning start, ruthless edge
They came out like a team with history to settle. After just 34 seconds, Ruadhrán Ó Curraoín clipped over the opening point. Ninety seconds later, the ball was in the Buttevant net.
Liam Wall timed his run, took his chance and finished low and true. Two minutes gone, 1-1 to no score, and Buttevant already looked rattled, even though Mark Lenahan had carved out an early goal chance at the other end.
For a spell, the game tightened. Buttevant, last year’s Premier JFC winners, tried to settle into their patterns. Eleven minutes in, Aaron Horgan finally opened their account, with Lenahan adding another soon after to leave it 1-1 to 0-2. It was cagey, tactical, low-scoring. Both sides set up with structure; neither wanted to blink.
Kilmurry blinked less.
Denis O’Mullane stroked over a free, Seán O’Leary drove forward for a point, and Wall added two more from play. By the 22nd minute, the scoreboard read 1-5 to 0-2, and the men in black and amber were already struggling to find a way through a superbly drilled Kilmurry rearguard.
When a rare defensive slip did come, Buttevant couldn’t fully punish it. Conor Hanlon might have had a goal but had to settle for a point, their first score in ten minutes. It should have been a lifeline. Instead, it was a brief interruption.
Ó Curraoín strikes, Kilmurry take control
The response was emphatic. Kyle Kelleher, with the outside of his boot, floated over a gorgeous point that summed up Kilmurry’s growing confidence. Then came the killer blow.
A minute before the break, Ó Curraoín found himself with a sight of goal. No panic, no fuss. He slid the ball calmly into the corner. Kilmurry led 2-6 to 0-3 and had both hands on the cup.
Buttevant did at least land something to cling to before the whistle. David Hanlon converted an awkward two-point free to trim the gap to 2-6 to 0-5 at half-time. On the board, it kept them alive. On the pitch, it didn’t feel that way.
Defence sets the tone
The second half opened in a grind. Buttevant pushed up, pressed, tried to force errors. Kilmurry refused to yield. Their defending was organised, aggressive, and utterly uncompromising.
When the dam finally looked like it might burst, it did so at the wrong end for Buttevant. After a spell of pressure, Kilmurry suddenly broke. Wall’s two-point effort cannoned off the post and fell perfectly for Ó Curraoín, who seemed destined for his second goal. Only an excellent stop from goalkeeper Ronan Donovan kept Buttevant afloat.
Michael O’Neill, sprung from the bench at half-time, did give Buttevant the first score of the half eight minutes in, cutting the gap to six. It was a small reward for their best spell. It didn’t last.
Kilmurry simply shifted up again. Two quick points restored an eight-point lead, 2-8 to 0-6 with 18 minutes left, and from there the result stopped being a question and became a matter of margin.
O’Mullane then landed another two-point free, stretching the gap to ten. Buttevant needed a surge heading into the final quarter. It never really came.
Bench impact, statement finish
Conor Hanlon did tap over a free to keep Buttevant ticking, but Kilmurry had too many options, too much energy. Wall raised an orange flag, Tomás Collins chipped in with his second point, and suddenly it was 2-13 to 0-7 on 51 minutes.
The closing stages turned into a controlled procession. The sides traded points, O’Mullane nudging Kilmurry further clear before Hanlon replied with a two-pointer that at least underlined Buttevant’s refusal to fold completely.
By then, though, the Kilmurry bench had taken over the scoring. Joe McGinn came on and immediately impressed, clipping two late points, one from a free. Another sub, Joe Ryan, knocked over an easy free to close out the night, the title, and a 14-point statement.
Wall finished with 1-4, Ó Curraoín with 1-2, O’Mullane with 0-4. O’Leary ran himself into the ground. From back to front, it was a collective performance that matched the scale of the occasion.
Kilmurry have climbed from JAFC champions in 2022 to Premier JFC winners in 2024 and now intermediate A kings. The trajectory is clear. The question now is not whether that 1995 final is forgotten.
It’s how far this group can go from here.
