Ballyholland
suffer another miserable time in the Mournes
A.C.F.L
Division 2, Attical 1.20 - Ballyholland Harps 1.06
- 06/06/03
Taken from Ballyholland Website
Attical's good home form, combined
with Ballyholland's poor showings away from home this
season, meant this game always had the look of a home
win. Not many people would have predicted such an
emphatic scoreline though. This was a thumping home
victory for Attical who outplayed Ballyholland in
every facet of the game. Attical looked sharper, fitter
and more determined right from the off and they never
let up throughout the whole game.
Although Ballyholland were shorn
of ten players from last season's squad, through a
combination of retirements, holidays and county players,
there really was no excuse for such a lacklustre display.
To a man, the Attical team played well, but none more
so than Johnny Morgan. Playing at corner-forward,
he started like a bullet out of a gun and had three
scores registered before Ballyholland realised the
game had started. The Harps were then handed an early
lifeline as Mark O'Hare converted a penalty which
he had earned, when the Attical keeper and full-back
sandwiched him as he went for a high ball.
This proved to be a only a minor
blip for the Mourne men as their mixture of short
and long passing carved the Ballyholland defence open
at will. They knocked over six more scores before
the half time whistle, the pick of which was a wonderful
strike from Gary Morgan from out on the touchline.
A Mark O'Hare point was Ballyholland's only riposte
during this period as they went in 0.09 to 1.01 at
the end of the half. The difference between the teams
in the second half was to prove even more emphatic
than the first. Ballyholland had developed a reasonable
platform of possession at midfield during the first
period, but even this was blown away during the second,
which inevitably led to an onslaught of Attical attacks.
The second ten minutes of this half
were to prove most fruitful, as all of Attical's forwards
got on the scoresheet during this time. This period
of dominance was capped when Gary Morgan finally got
the ball past Kieran Murphy, who was having an outstanding
game in the Ballyholland goal. Ballyholland managed
to put together a late run to save some face. Ciaran
Hartigan took a couple of scores either side of an
Anthony McNamee free, while Collie Barry and Glen
Elmore both knocked over nice points. Not to be outdone,
Martin Trainor finished the games scoring for Attical
and left an astounding fourteen points between the
teams at the final whistle. Undoubtedly the Attical
management must be purring at the display put on by
their team. They showed huge amounts of energy, tremendous
passing and vision, and some wonderful fielding.
Ollie Sloan and Barry Sloan marshalled
their defence superbly, Louis Sloan was outstanding
in midfield, while all their forwards showed very
well. On the other hand, Brendan Loughran and Art
Ruddy are sure to be extremely despondent at their
team's performance. Ballyholland were shapeless, disorganised
and undisciplined. The early season style of football
Harps showed when destroying Downpatrick and Ballymartin
was clearly absent. Only Kieran Murphy played to potential,
pulling off three wonderful saves. Paul Duffy played
well on his first senior start, while substitutes
Barry and McNamee lifted the team when they entered
the fray, but it was always going to be too little,
too late.
If Ballyholland are going to fulfil
their pre-season ambition of a play-off place, the
whole side is going to have to raise its game by 200%.
Performances like this are nor akin to a team chasing
Division One football.
Man of the Match: Johnny Morgan
was simply outstanding for Attical. He ran Ballyholland's
defence ragged, worked diligently and played intelligently
throughout. When added to this the fact that he was
in lethal scoring form from both open play and dead
balls, he pips Louis Sloan for Man of the Match.
Teams:
Attical - P McAsterker, A Sloan,
B Sloan, C Quinn, W McCullough, O Sloan, S Fitzpatrick,
L Sloan (0-3), P Sloan, G Morgan (1-1), Mark Sloan
(0-2), M Trainor (0-3), J Morgan (0-8, 4f), M Doran
(0-1), Miceal Sloan (0-2).
Ballyholland - K Murphy, G Elmore
(0-1), S O'Hare (K Fallon), P Duffy, John Patterson,
R Murphy, C Smith, B O'Hare, James Patterson, C Hartigan
(0-2), E Campbell, R Quinn (C Barry (0-1), J Barry
(A McNamee (0-1f), M McElroy, M O'Hare (1-1, 1p).
