The fairytale finally came to an end for the Reds of Ballyvarley when they fell narrowly by two points to Tyrone Champions, Strabane Shamrocks in a thrilling Ulster Junior Championship Semi-final at Ulster GAA’s own “theatre of dreams” in Clones. It was a heartbreaking story of too many wides and too many missed opportunities for the battling Reds as they exerted almost total second half dominance but failed to produce the scores they needed to advance to their first ever Ulster final.

            In a tight, low scoring game what proved to be the decisive score came after only three minutes of play when Ballyvarley failed to clear an attack down their right and the ball deflected into the path of a Strabane forward who hit it first time to the back of the Red’s net. It was the first goal Ballyvarley had conceded in the first half of any championship game this year and it proved a mortal blow as it left the Reds playing catch-up throughout the rest of the game.

            The early threat posed by Strabane’s towering full-forward, Gary McGettigan, was soon snuffed out by James McGrath and Ballyvarley hauled themselves back into contention with two pointed frees from Paul O’Neill reducing the deficit to the minimum. A pointed 65 from Strabane was cancelled out by another free from O’Neill but both sides found difficulty finding the target from a succession of placed balls as the game settled down into a period of scoreless stalemate. Lady luck seemed to have deserted Ballyvarley in the closing stages of the half when both of Ballyvarley’s midfielders suffered injury and as the Reds struggled to cope with this major blow Shamrocks took advantage of the Reds disarray to add two further points to their tally and stretch their lead to three points at the interval

            Half Time:  Ballyvarley 0-3   Strabane Shamrocks 1-3

Ballyvarley regrouped at half time and not even an early point from Strabane could undermine their steely determination in the second half. From there to the finish they dominated the proceedings but all they had to show for it was a solitary pointed free from Paul O’Neill. Time and again the chances seemed to be there for the taking but time and again, both from play and placed balls, the Reds continually found their efforts drifting wide of the posts. It was frustrating for the spectators who rose and fell with every near miss and it added to the irony that Shamrock’s, with only their third foray into the heart of the Reds defence, should win a free and earn their last point of the game to stretch their lead to four points.

            The introduction of Sean O’Neill added new life up front and when both he and Conor Lavery added points to reduce the deficit to two we dared to hope that the scene was set for another stirring comeback and another fairytale ending. Unfortunately it was not to be, as Strabane’s solid defence held firm and time ran out for Ballyvarley’s magical trip into the unknown.  Pushing forward right up to the last, this spirited and committed group of players were visibly shattered when the final whistle blew on their Ulster Championship campaign and the realisation that this game had been theirs for the taking.

            Final score:  Ballyvarley 0-6  Strabane Shamrocks 1-5

Cathal O’Neill had another fine game in goals highlighted by two excellent point blank saves in the final quarter when Strabane sought to finish off the Red’s challenge. The defence once more were a very solid unit limiting Strabane to only three scores from play and in James McGrath and Colm O’Neill they had two of the outstanding players on the field. In spite of their injuries, midfielders Cathal McGrath and Conor Lavery battled gamely throughout and contributed to Ballyvarley’s second half dominance. Up front no one could fault the effort of any of the forwards as they gave their opponents a torrid time but that final bit of magic was missing to produce the final score and it was only Paul and Sean O’Neill who carried the most consistent scoring threat on the day.

            So the Ballyvarley bandwagon has finally come to a halt but what a thrilling five weeks it has been for the whole community as this magnificent group of players lifted the profile of the club and the game of hurling to new heights

.

Team: Cathal O’Neill; Pat McGrath, James McGrath(capt), Thomas Lennon; Sean Kennedy, Colm O’Neill, David Lavery; Cathal McGrath, Connor Lavery(0-1), Paul O’Neill(0-4), Martin O’Neill, David McGovern; Eunan McConville, Conor Grew, John O’Neill

Subs: Sean O’Neill(0-1), James McDermott, Brendan Donald, Ciaran Connolly, Niall Savage, Conor McClorey, Christopher Higgins, Niall Higgins, Neil Monaghan, Leigh McConville, Michael Cairns