‘Galgets Edged Out in
Thriller
Newtownshandrum 0-14 Ballygalget 1-10
Down and
Ulster
champions Ballygalget were narrowly
defeated in a thrilling AIB
All-Ireland club semi-final in
Portlaoise on Sunday. The Ards men
matched their more illustrious
opponents in all departments and
produced a performance branded by Down
Hurling Board Chairman Brian McEvoy as
‘The best I have ever seen by a Down
hurling team’.
Despite
falling
behind to a
Cathal Naughton point
in the early stages Ballygalget gained
the upper hand in the early exchanges.
They raced into a 12th
minute lead when Eoin Clarke fired to
the net to add to Johnny McGrattan’s
point. Further points from Barry
Coulter, Stephen Clarke, Martin
Coulter and three from Johnny
McGrattan saw the Down men go into the
interval leading 1-7 to 0-6. The first
half had been played at a ferocious
pace and Ballygalget were making a
mockery of the post match predictions.
Johnny McGrattan hit the opening score
of the second half to send Ballygalget
into a five point lead. The
Cork
men then moved All Star forward Ben
O’Connor to midfield in an attempt to
win possession and fight their way
back into the game. This inspired a
period of play which saw
Newtownshandrum hit four unanswered
points to leave a single point between
the teams.
Paddy Monan pointed superbly from a
line ball but the Cork men replied
with three points to move into a one
point lead with eight minutes
remaining. A further point from
substitute
Jerry O’Mahoney left Ballygalget two
points behind going into injury time.
Ballygalget finished strongly in the
heavy conditions and a Johnny
McGratten point closed the gap to a
single point once more.
A period of frantic play then followed
with the Newtownshandrum defence
coming under sustained pressure but
lady luck was with them and they held
strong to secure a place in the St
Patrick’s Day final. All-Star twins
Ben and Jerry O’Connor contributed 12
of the Cork men’s 14 scores while
Seamus Roddy and Liam Clarke were
inspirational in the Ballygalget
defence.
Newtownshandrum will now travel to
Croke
Park in a bid to win their second All
Ireland in three years. They will meet
Galway
side Portumna who scored an impressive
victory over reigning champions James
Stephens of Kilkenny.
Ballygalget manager Gerard Monan was
hugely "proud" of his players'
performance. "We just didn't get a
couple of breaks of the ball, " a
rueful Monan expressed. “Getting to
Croke Park on St Patrick's Day was our
dream. In the end it was just one
free, one puck of the ball and maybe
we should have had another free as
well."
These sentiments were echoed by star
forward Martin Coulter “"It’s
hard to take, to go so close to
beating the team everyone said were
All-Ireland favorites, a team of
people said we didn’t have a chance of
beating, is so disappointing.”.
Coulter continued "I think we deserved
more from the game. We knew we had to
start well and we did. We never
stopped going at them and hurled
really well in the first half. But,
they are a quality side and showed
that.”
It must be said that Ballygalget could
and perhaps should have won this
contest but they must now build on
this performance and come back
stronger for it. They have served
notice to all who doubted their
pedigree that they have the skill and
dedication to compete at the highest
level of hurling.
Gavin Watson
PRO Ballygalget GAC
