Senior Hurling: Ballyvarley
v Clonduff
Senior Hurling League
Ballyvarley Vs Clonduff
It was a case of missed
opportunities and a lack of killer
instinct upfront for Ballyvarley’s
senior hurlers as they fell to a six
point defeat against Clonduff.
Fielding from a depleted panel due
to injuries and work commitments,
with home advantage the Reds
dominated most of the possession in
the opening half, eager and fierce
in the tackle with the defence
especially tight and playing well.
Upfront Ballyvarley found it hard to
transfer there dominance into
scores. A number of missed frees saw
the home side fail to punish the
visitors. This damaged the Reds’
confidence and spurred Clonduff on
who took their chances, hitting over
six points, John Murphy converting
four placed balls for the visitors
placed. In reply Ballyvarley could
manage just a solitary point from a
Colm O’Neill free to leave the Reds
trailing by five at the break.
HALF-TIME: Ballyvarley 0-1 Clonduff
0-6
As the game restarted
Ballyvarley made a number of changes
with James McGrath going to
full-forward, Colm O’Neill to centre
full-back, David McGovern moving to
midfield and Michael Cairns to
centre-half back. The Reds created
some good goal chances James McGrath
going close with a rasping drive
that was spectacularly saved by the
goalkeeper when it looked certain to
hit the net. Another drive from
James just went wide while three
times from ground balls the home
side went close. Undoubtedly the
Ballyvarley side were out of luck
and their scores came from David
McGovern with two points from either
wing from play while he also
converted two frees.
Eunan McConville battled
hard at midfield to supply balls to
the forwards, as did Michael Cairns
at half-back yet Ballyvarley could
only reduce the deficit to five
points. The Ballyvarley defence was
overworked with Conor McClorey and
Thomas Lennon giving inspirational
performances at the back. The killer
score came in the last ten minutes
with Clonduff sending in a high
looping ball that just dropped into
the home net. There was no way back
for the Reds yet they battled right
up to the final whistle.
FULL-TIME: Ballyvarley 0-5 Clonduff
1-8
On the positive side
there were some good things from
this performance with a lot of the
clubs minors performing well. Leigh
McConville gave his all at left
half-forward and the two corner
backs, Conor McClorey and Thomas
Lennon, were excellent. Amongst the
more experienced players Eunan
McConville, David McGovern and James
McGrath showed well and provided
most of the threat upfront.
Ballyvarley Senior Hurlers:
Cathal O’Neill, Conor McClorey,
James McGrath, Thomas Lennon, David
Lavery, Colm O’Neill (0-1), John
O’Neill, Michael Cairns, Eunan
McConville, Leigh McConville, David
McGovern (0-4), Ciaran Connolly,
Conor Grew, Darren Mackin, Niall
Savage. Sub: Christopher
Higgins.
Sent in by Colm O’Neill
