Cratloe are punished by Ballyea
BALLYEA were crowned champions for only the second time in their 83-year history when they came from behind to defeat Cratloe at Cusack Park in Ennis yesterday.
In front of a crowd of 7,040, the 2016 title-holders had to dig deep for this victory as they trailed by three (1-10 to 0-9) at the break and found themselves seven adrift two minutes into the second period.
Two years ago, Ballyea made it all the way to the All-Ireland Club final only to be defeated by Dublin side Cuala.
Shortly after half-time yesterday, their chances of advancing seemed unlikely, such was the dominance on the scoreboard by Cratloe.
Yet a steely determination by the black and amber clad men, combined with a second-half wide spree by opponents Cratloe, aided a late comeback and a deserved victory.
Cratloe, with a large contingent of dual players, lost the football semi-final to St. Joseph’s one week earlier, suggesting that fatigue could have been a factor in yesterday’s defeat.
But that’s not to take away from Ballyea’s triumph.
They dug deep when times were tough and with man-of-the-match Niall Deasy unerring from placed balls, they took their opportunity.
From the throw-in, Cratloe looked to be the hungrier outfit. After five minutes they were deservedly in front by 0-3 to 0-1. Billy Connors grabbed a pair of early points added to by the ever dangerous Cathal McInerney.
Ballyea got their opening score through Deasy but were finding it difficult to hit the target from play.
They trailed by 0-6 to 0-5 after twenty one minutes and tellingly, all their scores came from Deasy’s free-taking. On the other hand all six Cratloe scores were taken from open play.
Former hurler of the year Tony Kelly eventually broke that pattern by splitting the posts from distance to level matters, and later on another Kelly effort left his side 0-8 to 0-7 in front. But that lead didn’t last long.
Cathal McInerney fielded a long, accurate pass by Cratloe teamcaptain Conor McGrath and from the edge of the square he found the net by batting past advancing goalkeeper Barry Coote.
The men from south east Clare deservedly took a four point advantage to the changing rooms at half time.
From the throw-in at the beginning of the second half Cratloe hit the ground running. Points by Billy Connors, Shane Gleeson and a third from McInerney opened up what seemed to be an unsurmountable gap.
The drama was only just beginning.
Ballyea kept their heads above water and stayed within touching distamce, Deasy keeping them in the mix from placed balls.
Cratloe, for their part, did themselves no favours, hitting a number of wides when they should have been going for the jugglar.
Billy Connors landed a pointed free in the 38th minute to open up 1 -14 to 0-12 lead for but it was to be their last score of the afternoon.
The 2016 champions then hit six on the trot with Brandon O’Connell’s effort giving them the lead for only the second time in the game. Cratloe looked off colour and their opponents took full advantage of it.
Overturning the lead gave them the impetus to go all the way.
A poor short puck-out by Cratloe goalkeeper Gearoid Ryan didn’t find intended target Michael Hawes. It fell kindly to corner-forward Martin O’Leary who pounced for a vital goal. This three-pointer rocked a wounded Cratloe.
Ballyea had their backs up and had their eyes on the prize at this stage.
O’Leary brought his own tally to 1-3 for the day with a further point and Niall Deasy pointed from a free, close to the left sideline for the final score of the tie.
Cratloe did try to salvage something in injury time through a Conor McGrath free from about 30 metres, but his effort was stopped on the line.