John Brennan 

Friday night saw the meeting of old rivals Attical and Glasdrumman on a wet night for both football and spectators in Ballymartin. Attical started the stronger and were two points up after five minutes with scores from Martin Trainor and Lewis Sloan. Cormac Murphy pulled one back for Glasdrumman on five minutes but in a twelve minute spell Attical forced the pace with points from Mark Doran, Micael Sloan and Martin Trainor mostly from frees conceded by the Glasdrumman defence. However Glasdrumman finished strongly and were rewarded with two points from Connaire Harrison on twenty seven and thirty minutes to leave the halftime score Attical 0-5 Glasdrumman 0-3.

Straight from the throw in Sean McDowell pointed for Glasdrumman to leave a single point between the sides but Attical settled the better and, using the long probing ball to good effect in the wet conditions, they had what was probably their best spell of the game scoring five unanswered points from Mark Doran, Martin Trainor, Mark Doran, Mark Sloan and Martin Trainor. Two points from Connaire Harrison eased the pressure on Glasdrumman but Attical fought back with points from Micael Sloan, substitute Wayne White and Mark Sloan. Faced with a seven point defecit Glasdrumman fought hard in an effort to restore their pride and they were rewarded with a Connaire Harrison point after twenty five minutes. Two minutes later Cormac Murphy pointed to further reduce the defecit and then Glasdrumman were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Cormac Murphy to plant the ball firmly to the Attical net to leave just two points between the sides but time was running out and Attical were glad to hear the final whistle with the final score at Attical 0-13 Glasdrumman 1-8.

This was a game where Attical’s style of play suited the conditions better than Glasdrumman who continued to play their short passing game when conditions were not ideal for handling a wet ball on a wet surface and inevitably led to mistakes.

Glasdrumman: Ronan McDowell, Art McCartan, Francis O’Neill, Daniel McCartan, Colm Carr, Brian Burns, Kevin Burns, Cormac Murphy (1-2), Pat Mallon, Shane Feeney, Martin O’Neill, Connaire Harrison (0-5), James McDowell, Raymond Clarke, Sean McDowell (0-1).

Subs used: Christopher McDowell for Colm Carr, Gary McGreevy for James McDowell, Mark Trimble for Shane Feeney .

Attical: Paddy McAstocker, Kevin Sloan, Brendan Sloan, Paul Trainor, Shane Fitzpatrick, Kevin Quinn, Philip Sloan, Lewis Sloan (0-1), Micael Sloan (0-2), Martin Trainor (0-4), Mark Sloan (0-2), Paddy Sloan, Daniel Sloan, Mark Doran (0-3), Declan Hardy.

Subs used: Wayne White (0-1) for Declan Hardy