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Ballela win table top
clash at St John's
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Camogie
St John’s
1-05 v 4-04 Ballela
Sun 23rd Oct
When St John’s took on Ballela in the
final match of the season both sides had
everything to play for. Ballela had
beaten St John’s earlier in the season
and a second win would secure the league
title. St John’s were otherwise
undefeated and knew that a win for them
would set up a playoff.
St John’s had the better of the opening
period and were on the attack from the
outset. However they were unable to
engineer scoring opportunities and it
was the visitors who were first on the
scoreboard when they pointed a free
following a breakaway attack. They
followed this up with a three pointer
but Bronagh McCullough got St John’s’
opening point soon after. They added a
second before Ballela pointed again. St
John’s almost had an equalizing goal but
the effort was fired across the goals
and wide. Bronagh McCullough pointed
again soon after to close the gap to two
points and keep the pressure on. With
four minutes left the pressure was
relieved when Ballela got a very lucky
goal. This was cancelled out almost
immediately when Bronagh McCullough made
great progress down the left flank and
crossed for Orla McMullan to get a goal.
St John’s might have got their noses in
front before the break when a 40m free
was played into the danger area but was
eventually cleared. So at the turnaround
St John’s trailed by two points (1-3 to
2-2), in spite of having had the lion’s
share of the possession and almost all
the camogie was played in the Ballela
half of the field.
However, the team
were unable to maintain their momentum
into the second half. Two early goals
for the visitors put daylight between
the teams for the first time. For the
rest of the 25 minutes the teams traded
chances and scores (two points each) to
leave the final score at 1-5 to 4-4. To
be fair St John’s did not look like
eroding that two goal gap although they
played well in patches. The result
confirms a league and championship
double for Ballela and the league
runners-up spot for St John’s.
