Longford JFC: Ballymore reach the Junior ‘A’ championship final
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The Rustic Inn Junior A Football Championship – Round 4
By Blaithin Mulvihill
Ballymore booked their place in this year’s Junior A Championship final following a hard earned five point victory over Clonguish (second string) in Allen Park on Friday night.
A strong first half from Ballymore saw them leading by nine points at one stage but two swift goals from Clonguish brought them right back into contention with Ballymore leading by 0-11 to 2-3 at the break.
Ballymore opened the scoring with a point from Daniel Fahy inside thirty seconds. Clonguish responded with a point from Mikey Glennon in the second minute but this would be their only score until the 27th minute of the half with the Ballymore men taking control.
The game then transpired into a very one sided affair with Ballymore establishing dominance in all sectors of the field. Clonguish struggled to contain their opponents and appeared to be in big trouble.
A point apiece from Oisín Flynn and Ciaran Reilly, a two- pointer and a free from David Reilly and two points each from Gavin O’Hara and Daniel Fahy had Clonguish in dire straits coming up to the break.
Eventually they awoke from their slumber with goals from Neil Devlin and Josh Sorohan in the 27th and 31st minutes along with points from Mark McHugh and James Flynn saw the Ballymore advantage reduced to two points, 0-11 to 2-3 when referee Frank Toher blew the half-time whistle.
On the resumption it was again Ballymore who took the initiative. As in the first half Daniel Fahy opened the scoring with a quick point followed by full back David Reilly converting a close in free to extend their lead to four points within two minutes of the restart. However this was as good as it got for the North Longford lads for a barren period.
Like their opponents did in the first half, Ballymore faded out of the game for the next fifteen minutes which allowed Clonguish the chance to gain some momentum in the game.
A Josh Sorohan goal, his second of the evening and a couple of brilliant points from James Flynn had the green and white leading for the first time in the match at three quarter time.
The game was now poised for a tense final quarter.
Finding themselves in arrears for the first time in the game, Ballymore rallied and playing their best football in the match they overran their opponents by 1-5 to 0-2 in the final ten minutes to re-establish their authority.
Daniel Fahy was the architect of his side's recovery. A brilliant individual goal and a quick point from him steered the Ballymore ship for home and with further points from John Boyle; a massive two-pointer from David Reilly and a point from Damien Monaghan set the seal on their eventual victory.
Clonguish could only respond with points from Niall O’Reilly and substitute Cormac Flynn (Kilmore) in this period.
The result sees Ballymore secure the automatic place in this year’s Junior championship decider while Clonguish will have to face Kenagh (who were victorious over Slashers) in the semi-final to decide the other final spot.
Ballymore: Mattie McCrann, Ciaran Fahy, David Reilly (0-6, 2 two-pointers, 2 frees), Ben Creegan (0-1), Gavin O’Hara (0-2), John Boyle (0-1), Daniel Fahy (1-5), Ciaran Reilly (0-1), Rian Browne, John Gorman, Kenneth Rigney, Donal McElvaney, Oisín Flynn (0-1), Arthur Monaghan, Pete McNerney.
Subs: Damien Monaghan (0-1) for J Gorman ( half-time), Vinnie Walker for P McNerney (46 mins), John Gorman for C Fahy (56 mins).
Clonguish: James Quinn, Michael McCann, Cian Sutton, Brendan Devine, Gerard Moore, Neil Devlin (1-0), Robert Smith, Packie Molloy, Mark McHugh (0-1), Cathal Lynch, Niall O’Reilly (0-1), Mikey Glennon (0-1), Ryan McHugh, Josh Sorohan (2-0), James Flynn (0-3).
Subs: Aidan O’Ceallaigh for R Smith (41 mins), Liam Sheridan for R McHugh (42 mins), Cormac Flynn (0-1) for M Glennon (56 mins), Jason Glancy for N Devlin (62 mins, injury)
Referee: Frank Toher (Killoe Emmet Og).