Ballyholland
blow Glassdrumman away - 12/08/2003
A.C.F.L.
II - Ballyholland Harps 2.17 - 0.08 Glassdrumman - 08/08/03
Taken from Ballyholland Website
After
three successive defeats Ballyholland really needed a victory to get their confidence
up before the Championship opening round. This victory duly arrived on Friday
night and what a victory it was - sending Glassdrumman back to the Mournes on
the end of a fifteen-point hiding. There is no doubting that the East-Down side
have acquitted themselves more than well during their first ever season in Division
II - they have beaten a host of teams and only a couple of small-margin losses
have prevented them from being genuine promotion contenders. One of the sides
that took a pasting in Glassdrumman was Ballyholland a few months back.
This was a very different occasion though. Ballyholland had a duel purpose for
winning; one to inflict revenge for the bad defeat suffered in the reverse fixture,
the other being to keep their slim promotion hopes alive. These motivational factors,
added to a team approaching first choice, saw Ballyholland deliver an excellent
hour's play where they simply were too good for their opponents. The first ten
minutes of the game was very choppy and littered with frees. Eugene Campbell,
playing in an unusual corner-forward berth, earned the first of the evening to
present Shane Mulholland with a scoring opportunity, taken easily. Glassdrumman's
livewire forward, Raymond Magorrian, started very brightly and he converted a
free and then knocked over a fine individual effort to give his side a brief lead
- but it was all one-way traffic from then on. John Barry and Mulholland added
points from free kicks before Aidy McAteer knocked over two fine points to give
Ballyholland some early breathing space.
Ballyholland had
clearly settled into a comfortable rhythm and were dominating possession. Mulholland
flashed over a twenty-metre effort after an interchange with Ciaran Hartigan,
who opened his account for the evening soon afterwards. Half-time couldn't come
quick enough for Glassdrumman, who were playing against the breeze - but Ballyholland
proceeded to knock over four more scores before the break. John Barry and Eugene
Campbell both scored from play, either side of a pair of Shane Mulholland frees,
one of which was fully fifty-five metres.
When half-time
did arrive, the score was 0.11 to 0.02 and the game was effectively over. If Glassdrumman
still held any hopes for victory, they were quickly quashed as the second-half
began. Aidy McAteer played a high ball into the deep-running Mulholland, who produced
a first time flick of absolute class to play Eugene Campbell through. Campbell
mustered up a wonderful finish to bury the ball in the bottom corner mid-stride.
Peter McDowell managed to get on the end of a breaking-ball to drive over a point
for the East-Down side, but further points from Barry and McAteer restored a healthy
advantage for the Harps. In reply, Glassdrumman upped their performance again
and knocked over three consecutive scores, the first period of sustained trouble
the Harps defence has been put under during the evening.
Ballyholland's
captain, Shane Mulholland, pegged them back though with a nice point after good
work from Kieran Murphy. Those three points would surely have given Glassdrumman
some hope, but this was all to vanish moments later when Ronan Murtagh was introduced
to the fray. After being dragged around the field by the impressive Aidy McAteer
all evening long, the Glassdrumman full-back now had the daunting prospect of
marking Murtagh 'to look forward to'.
Murtagh's impact
was immediate, using his pace and strength to brush past a couple of challenges
and make it to the by-line, before playing the ball across goal to the unmarked
Eugene Campbell. Somehow Campbell contrived to punch his effort off a post, but
luckily Colm Barry had sauntered forward from corner-back to be on hand and put
the ball in the net. The final ten minutes of the game saw Magorrian hit an excellent
individual score and also saw his side hit the crossbar, but Murtagh, who knocked
over three points and hit the post, really was the star turn of this period as
Ballyholland cantered to an easy win.
The nature of this
defeat must surely have been a shock to a Glassdrumman side who have proven themselves
very difficult opponents this season. They would have been quietly confident coming
to Ballyholland after the trouncing they gave the Harps at their own ground. But
this was a very different Ballyholland side from that evening. Harps simply dominated
midfield, their defence was solid and disciplined and their forwards had brought
their shooting boots.
Glassdrumman didn't gain enough possession
during the game to pose a real threat to the scoreboard and tenacious defending
often snuffed out the little they did get. They'll need to improve for the coming
weeks, as despite their good showings they still need a couple of victories to
be assured of Division II status next season. This was a very welcome win for
Ballyholland who have struggled to get any rhythm going this season. Occasional
flashes of brilliance, such as this emphatic win, have been dimmed by an inability
to sustain a long winning run. Hence the Harps are halfway through their final
pint in the last chance saloon of promotion hopes. It is not impossible though.
Drumgath's shock loss away to Carryduff has brought the pack closing in on fourth
pace ever closer. Ballyholland need to win their last four games and hope that
Drumgath lose at least one point during the process, to secure a place.
This
would be a tough enough station regardless of the opposition, but it's made even
tougher considering three of those games are against Shamrocks, Attical and Warrenpoint.
Although these three teams provide sterner opposition than Glassdrumman did, another
few performances similar to this, with a fully-fit Ronan Murtagh available, may
just be enough for the Harps.
Teams: Ballyholland: K Loughran,
G Elmore, S O'Hare, C Barry (1-0) (P Duffy), John Patterson, R Murphy, C Smith,
James Patterson, M McElroy, C Hartigan (0-2) (R Murtagh (0-3)), S Mulholland (0-6,
4f), K Murphy (K Fallon), J Barry (0-3, 1f), A McAteer (0-2), E Campbell (1-1)
(A McNamee).
Glassdrumman: R McDowell, M Trimble, P Smyth,
M O'Neill, F O'Neill, B Burns, C Carr, M Mooney, P Mallon (0-1), M Magennis (0-1),
R McGivern, C McGreevy, R Clarke (0-1), P McDowell (0-2), R Magorrian (0-3, 2f).
Man of the Match: For Glassdrumman, Raymond Magorrian, Gary McGreevy and Finbarr
O'Neill were the best perfomers, but the contenders for Man of the Match were
all in opposition to them. Colm Barry had an excellent game and provides Ballyholland
with another option at corner-back in a defence where Ronan Murphy also had a
very big game. The return of big McElroy definitely was key to Ballyholland securing
possession at midfield, which set up the platform for John Barry and Aidy McAteer
to have fine games. Shane Mulholland was the driving force behind this victory
though. He led from the front and between spraying the ball around with vision
and taking scores with nonchalant ease, he was certainly the class act on display
on this occasion.
