County
boys are men apart
A.C.F.L
Division 2, Round 2- Ballymartin 1-11 Ballyholland
1-18
Taken from Ballyholland Website
Tremendous individual displays by Ronan Murtagh and
Shane Mulholland illuminated an excellent Ballyholland
performance in Ballymartin. It is never an easy trip
going to the Kilkeel club, but on this occasion the
Harps were well up for it and came away fully deserving
of two points.
As always seems to be the case at
the seaside club, a big wind played a large factor
in the game. On this occasion, the wind was blowing
straight down the middle and in the first-half Ballyholland
played it like masters - with Ronan Murtagh simply
outstanding.
Time after time during the first
period, long raking passes found Murtagh and he did
the rest. There was simply nothing Ballymartin could
do about a man in form such as this. The coup de grace
though was a wonderful team goal. Eugene Campbell
came surging forward from corner-back playing a series
of one-two's, before releasing Murtagh who buried
the ball in the back of the net, on his way to a phenomenal
personal first-half tally of 1-8.
Other scores in the first-half were
a pair apiece from Mulholland and Aidy McAteer, and
one each from Robbie Quinn and Paul Murphy. In response
Ballymartin could only muster three scores as the
Harps went in at the half a commanding 1-14 to 0-3
in front.
Although the game was effectively
over as a contest, Ballymartin came out and fought
manfully in the second-half. Playing with the wind
took a lot of pressure off the White's defence and
Pat Cunningham started to get the shackles on Murtagh.
Chris McDowell at wing-half forward became more and
more effective and their midfield began to dominate.
Unfortunately for Ballymartin though,
the Harps full-back line was magnificent during the
second period and thrived when put under pressure.
Ballymartin's tactic of long balls into Paul Higgins
was consistently thwarted by a superb display of full-back
play by Sean O'Hare, while Campbell and Glen Elmore
swept up the pieces and defended with intelligence
throughout.
A dubious penalty, converted by Paul
Higgins, gave Ballymartin a glimmer of hope but this
was quickly extinguished by a pair of wonderful scores
from Shane Mulholland - who never put a foot wrong
all day and was having easily his best game in a long
time for the Harps.
In the end Ballyholland ran out
comfortable seven point winners, fully deserved for
a superb all-round performance. Some of the passing
and movement during the game was a joy to behold and
the displays by Mulholland and Murtagh were worth
the entrance money alone.
After the dreadful opening against
Carryduff, comprehensive back-to-back wins mean Ballyholland's
season is now firmly back on track.
Teams:
Ballymartin - M Sloan, D O'Hanlon (Conal O'Hare 0-1),
P Quinn, L Byrne (0-1), S Rogers, O Kerr, C Quinn,
C O'Hare, E McEvoy, C McDowell (0-5, 1 free), Paul
Cunningham, J Doran (0-1), A McLoughlin (0-2, 1 free),
P Higgins (1-1, pen, 1 free), Pat Cunningham.
Ballyholland - K Loughran, G Elmore, S O'Hare, E Campbell,
C Murtagh (John Patterson), R Murphy, C Smith, P Murphy
(0-2), James Patterson (B O'Hare), M O'Hare, S Mulholland
(0-4, 1 '45), R Quinn (0-1) J Barry (C Hartigan),
R Murtagh (1-8, 3 frees), A McAteer (0-3).
