Pace and power that would put any defender on the back foot.
Killian Butler wasn’t born in Ireland but Gaelic football has always been his first love.
Watching London’s famous 2013 run to the Connacht final inspired him, his brother Philip let him know what had to be done. The older Butler was a key member of the class of 2013 but there was always something about Killian.
He was only 16 back then but anyone with their finger-on-the-pulse of London GAA circles already knew all about the youngster who’d been ripping up trees for Tír Chonaill Gaels.
Since then, Killian’s career has been a rollercoaster. Brought into the London panel at 18, it was clear that this fella was highly taught of. It wasn’t going to be straight forward though, and in an interview with Michael Corry of Pundit Arena, he admitted to having nobody bar himself to blame for being dropped off the panel a couple of years ago.
He’s back in the groove now though, at one with the small ball, at home in London and it didn’t take long for him to give the Galway defenders a tour of England’s capital on Sunday.
“He used to play a bit of soccer growing up and it was between the two of them for them for a good while, but he’s really dedicated himself to the GAA recently, between his fitness and his skills, and sure Galway found out all about that on Sunday,” said London born GAA journalist Conor Martin to SportsJOE.
By God they did. Pace, power, directness and skill – he showed every one of them on his way to a first half goal that revitalised the London challenge and lit the touch paper for a superb individual performance.
Watch the stunning goal from 3.30 or from the Gif below.
The ROAR of the @LondainGAA crowd when homegrown hotshot Killian Butler skins his man at 3.30 is what it's all about 🔊
The finish is something else 👏
Well done today London. Gaelic football is alive and well across the water.pic.twitter.com/f1Twvfay3J
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) May 5, 2019
Credit: RTÉ GAA.
He’d go onto kick another point, skin the post with a gilt edged goal effort as Galway tried everything, including double-marking to try and get to grips with him.
“The speed of the man, I’ve watched him play in so many different games and he just ends up being double-marked and fouled in every one of them, they just can’t live with him…that was exactly how it panned out again on Sunday, Galway dropped back another half back on him just to try and handle him, and he was still leaving them behind him…He could cause nightmares for any inside back-line in Ireland…”
The corner forward with the London father and Cork mother is definitely, one to watch in the qualifiers.
“There’s such a passion for the sport over here, by half-time we had those lads rattled so we’ll take that with us into the qualifiers and we’ll go into it with plenty of confidence. When things go well, we’ll put it up to any team,” he said.
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