Ballyholland's
flying forwards down the Hoops
ACFL
II - Downpatrick RGU 0.11 - 2.13 Ballyholland Harps - 27/06/03
Taken from Ballyholland Website
Despite their best
efforts, Downpatrick had no answer to the frightening pace and deadly accuracy
of Ballyholland's full-forward line in an entertaining encounter on Friday night.
There aren't many harder games in division II than the trip away to Downpatrick,
but on this occasion Ballyholland delivered the kind of performance that will
make all opponents wary should they make the promotion play-offs.
Ronan
Murtagh was in irresistible form and he tortured the Hoops back-line throughout.
It was far from a one-man show though, as he and the corner-forwards, the dynamic
Mark O'Hare and the tireless John Barry, enjoyed a great supply of passes all
evening long.
Downpatrick, and Ger Deegan especially, started brightest.
Deegan opened the scoring with an easy finish after a surging run parted the Ballyholland
defence. He got his second point shortly afterwards, with a fisted effort close
to the by-line after he had turned Ronan Murphy inside out.
Ballyholland
needed a score to settle their nerves and what a score it was, when it duly arrived.
Brendan O'Hare hit a long, raking pass towards Ronan Murtagh. Mark O'Hare arrived
on Murtagh's through ball at great pace and then delivered a ferocious drive past
Clarke in the Downpatrick goal. This goal visibly settled Ballyholland, who began
to assume control of proceedings thereafter.
Although Ger Deegan levelled
things up with a free shortly afterwards, that was as close as the Hoops got to
the lead for the rest of the evening. Shane Mulholland delivered his first pointed
free of the evening with a magnificent effort from near the right touchline. Not
to be outdone, Murtagh got his first point with a thirty-yard effort, and he then
played a wonderful series of interchanges with Mark O'Hare to open up the Downpatrick
defence for a goal opportunity, taken with aplomb.
The goal was a bit
of a sucker punch for Downpatrick, who had been far from outplayed in the opening
exchanges, yet found themselves five points down. They did fight back though,
with points from Smyth and McShane, while Mulholland and Deegan exchanged frees.
The final ten minutes of the opening half saw a litany of wides from
Ballyholland, but a Mark O'Hare point after a build-up that seemed to involve
the whole Ballyholland team, meant they went in at the half with a four point
margin, 2.04 to 0.06.
Downpatrick started the second-half with quite
a few positional changes. Martin Trainor was drafted back to try to contain Murtagh.
A clearly unfit Gregory Deegan left the proceedings, which meant his brother Gerard
was moved to the edge of the square, acting as a target-man. It made little difference
though as Sean O'Hare and Ronan Murtagh both upped their performances to give
Harps the lift required to see them home.
Mulholland continued his scintillating
free-taking form with the first point of the second period. Kevin Gracey replied
with a sweetly struck forty-five, but two individual efforts from Murtagh and
another Mulholland free increased Ballyholland's lead. Mark McElroy replaced Paul
Duffy to bolster Ballyholland's options at midfield and the big man got stuck
in well with immediate effect.
The East-Down side did not lie down for
one second though. Corner-back Andrew Bowd found himself in unfamiliar territory
to take a fine score and Deegan pointed his third free of the evening shortly
after Mark O'Hare had scored again for Harps.
The best point of the evening
followed, as Ronan Murtagh again caused panic in the Hoops defence, before finding
his county team-mate Mulholland, who struck a magnificent curving shot from a
narrow angle out of the left.
Downpatrick rallied again with points from
Harry Rice and Donal McCartan. Crucially, with only five points in it at this
stage, Gerard Deegan had a good penalty appeal turned down. Things may have turned
out differently if it had have been given, but Ballyholland finished strongly
with further points from John Barry, Mulholland and another excellent effort from
Murtagh.
After being defeated by the Harps in the second game of their
season, Downpatrick went on a long unbeaten run that seemed would secure a promotion
play-off place. Recent weeks though have seen them lose out to Drumgath, Warrenpoint
and now Ballyholland again - now their place in season's finale isn't quite as
secure. With all the history behind their club, it would be a huge shock to all
Downpatrick Gaels if their team wasn't involved.
They didn't play badly
on this occasion, but they came up against a Ballyholland team that was firing
on all cylinders and whose style of play suited the wide open expanses that Downpatrick's
field provides. There is no doubting the return of Kyran Smyth, Peter Turley and
Karl Oakes will give them a huge lift. On the evening, Peter Kelly contained Shane
Mulholland quite well, big Donal McCartan caught a lot of balls of the middle,
while up front Harry Rice worked himself into the ground. Gerard Deegan was their
star man though, he looked lively, if a little greedy, and was a handful throughout.
Brendan Loughran and Art Ruddy can take delight in a fine all round performance.
Things were beginning to go off the rails at Ballyholland a month ago, but the
situation has been turned around again with excellent wins over favourites Warrenpoint
and now Downpatrick. There is no doubting the influence that Ronan Murtagh and
Shane Mulholland bring when they play.
Everyone in Ballyholland is 100%
the Down team in their charge for Ulster honours, but there's not a manager in
the country that wouldn't want players of this calibre at their disposal every
week. Good news is here though, as Aidy McAteer has returned from the USA to hopefully
provide some much needed firepower in the absence of the county players.
Teams:
Downpatrick: J Clarke, D McLeod, D Carville, A Bowd, P Oakes, P Kelly,
M Trainor, D McCartan (0-1), K Gracey (0-1), H Rice (0-1), Gerard Deegan (0-5,
3f), C Smyth (0-1) (C Fitzsimmons), A Telford (0-1), Gregory Deegan (R Foy), T
McShane (0-1).
Ballyholland: K Murphy, G Elmore, S O'Hare, P Duffy (M
McElroy), John Patterson, R Murphy, C Smith, James Patterson, B O'Hare, C Barry
(R Quinn), S Mulholland (0-6, 5f), C Hartigan, J Barry (0-1), R Murtagh (1-4),
M O'Hare (1-2).
Man of the Match:
Mark O'Hare, Brendan O'Hare and
the Patterson brothers all delivered top-drawer performances, but there were two
contenders who really stood out from the crowd. Sean O'Hare was outstanding. In
the first-half he gave a peerless display of intuitive full-back play. In the
second-half he man-marked Ger Deegan so effectively that the Hoops main target-man
did not score from play. Ronan Murtagh pips him to the award though. As Fermanagh's
Mickey Lilly found out the previous weekend, it is becoming unbelievably difficult
to combat Murtagh's combination of pace, power and skill. He had a hand in virtually
every single Ballyholland score and effectively was the difference between the
teams.
Moment of the Match:
Ballyholland needed a score to settle
their early game nerves. Mark O'Hare delivered the vital score with a wonderfully
taken goal after excellent work by Brendan O'Hare and Ronan Murtagh. Downpatrick
never held the lead again after this effort went in. Colman Smith deserves a mention
for entertaining everyone with an amazingly theatrical dive after a minor incident
with an opponent.
Miss of the Match:
John Barry missed several chances,
but none were as glaring as a dreadful miss by Shane Mulholland half-way through
the first-half. A wonderful team move found Mulholland all alone in front of the
posts. The opportunity for a simple point beckoned, while he also had the time
to compose himself and place a shot. Instead he flashed a quick-fire effort past
the right-hand post.
