Ballyholland
deliver fine Performance to over come Downpatrick
A.C.F.L
Division 2, Round 2- Ballyholland 1-13 Downpatrick
0-10
Taken from Ballyholland Website
Ballyholland delivered one of their finest performances
in recent memory in defeating Downpatrick on Monday
night at Father Lynch Park.
From start to finish the Harps delivered a controlled
and disciplined performance and played some superb
football along the way. Although Downpatrick were
quickest out of the blocks, with early points from
Clarke and Smyth, Ballyholland assumed control after
about 5 minutes and never looked back.
Early scores from Ronan Murtagh and Robbie Quinn settled
the team and as midfield started to win their fair
share of possession, the scores began to come. But,
it was about fifteen minutes in that Ballyholland
got one of those scores that deserves to win a match
on it's own. Mark O'Hare grabbed a breaking ball in
midfield and fed it to Shane Mulholland. Mulholland
looked up and saw Rony Murtagh in space. An inch perfect
thirty-yard pass gave Murtagh the space to unleash
a tremendous drive into the top corner from all of
twenty yards.
After that goal, Ballyholland settled into a comfortable
rhythm and further points from Mark O'Hare and Ronan
Murtagh saw them go in at half-time 5 points to the
good, 1-06 to 0-04.
Downpatrick came out in the second half fired up,
but as they pressed forward it just opened up more
space for Ballyholland's flying forwards to exploit.
Their tactic of playing two men on Ronan Murtagh had
minimal success, as John Barry became more and more
prominent in the game, while you could hardly say
Ronan was contained.
Gerard Deegan kept the Hoop's scorecard ticking over
with some accurate free-taking, but in truth Ballyholland
were comfortable throughout the second-half and 6
further points from their forward saw them run out
winners by a 6 point margin.
Danny Carville and Jason Smyth had fine games for
Downpatrick, but their best player by a long way was
veteran Kyran Smyth who won a lot of possession in
midfield and chipped in with a couple of scores.
Ballyholland put in a fine team performance and, to
a man, everyone played very well. Pick of the bunch
were Colman Smith, who had a superb game in defence,
Paul Murphy who had a powerhouse performance in the
middle and Rony Murtagh who scared Downpatrick senseless
every time he got the ball.
For my money though, Robbie Quinn had his best sixty
minutes yet for the Harps, he ran tirelessly, linked
well, won a lot of break-ball and scored two fine
points - a man of the match performance.
Ballyholland still gave away too many needless frees,
although the referee's judgement could have been questions
on a couple of occasions - but all in all it was a
superb performance that had their supporters purring
at the final whistle.
Teams:
Ballyholland: K Loughran, G Elmore, S O'Hare, E Campbell,
C Murtagh, R Murphy, C Smith, James Patterson, P Murphy,
R Quinn (0-2), S Mulholland (0-2 1f), M O'Hare (0-2),
J Barry (0-2), R Murtagh (1-4 2f), A McAteer (0-1).
Downpatrick: TP Louden, P McCartan, P Oakes, D McLeod,
M Trainor, J Clarke (0-1f), D Carville, P Turley (0-1),
K Smyth (0-2 1f), J Smyth (0-1), H Rice, M Robinson,
T McShane (0-1), Ger Deegan (0-4f), A Bowd. Subs:
C Smyth, JR Louden.
