First half Sheehy strike sets Ballydonoghue on their way
NORTH KERRY SFC FINAL
Ballydonoghue 1-13 Ballyduff 1-4
IN the end there was just no denying them.
They had too much about themselves. Too much power, too much pace and, crucially, too much football. Ballyduff, for all their graft and endeavour, when push came to shove couldn’t get anywhere near Ballydonoghue.
The hurling kingpins had started well enough. Adapting far better to the conditions, they held a two point lead inside the opening three minutes. Both scores came courtesy of Barry O’Grady frees.
Ballyduff’s difficulty was that for all their dominance in the play, they didn’t create nearly enough and, of what they did create, they didn’t convert regularly enough. Two missed frees from O’Grady in the eighteenth and nineteenth minutes summed up Ballyduff’s predicament succinctly.
They couldn’t expect Ballydonoghue to remain as subdued as they were for the entire match. Ballyduff needed to make hay while they could. Really it was only a matter of time before the champions got up to speed.
Granted Ballydonoghue did give their supporters a nervous twenty minutes before they found their footing. It looked to us as though they were trying to play their natural game, trying to replicate the slick passing and interof possession which proved so effective against Brosna seven days beforehand.
On a sticky pitch it seemed to bog them down. Passes didn’t stick. Ballyduff, relishing close quarter combat, turned them over. On top of that Ballydonoghue were conceding a lot of frees at this stage in the game. In short they were struggling for momentum, struggling for a way into the game.
Gradually, however, they came to grips with the situation. Ballydonoghue fronted up admirably in the physical stakes. They began to play a simpler brand of football, relying more (although not exclusively) on their running game.
By the twentieth minute Ballydonoghue captain Paul Kennelly (from the placed ball) had erased Ballyduff’s early advantage. The worm was beginning to turn, but then disaster seemingly struck with Martin O’Mahony’s dismissal on a straight red card for what looked like a striking offence.
In a real dogfight with the ultimate streetfighters, Ballydonoghue found themselves down one of their key men. It could have severely dented the Ballydonoghue challenge, but instead it galvanised them.
Within three minutes of O’Mahony’s dismissal (on twenty minutes), Ballydonoghue had the ball in the back of the net thanks for Darragh Sheehy. The hugely impressive Thomas Kennelly claimed a Darragh O’Shea kick-out, powered up the line and passed to Sheehy who made straight for goal. No mistake with the finish.
1-2 to 0-2 now and Ballyduff, for the very first time, were on the back foot. Confidence, meanwhile, surged through the entire Ballydonoghue team. Sheehy fresh from his goal-scoring exploits assisted Paul Kennelly for his first from play and a minute later slapped one over from play himself.
Thomas Kennelly, now really finding his footing, landed a fifth Ballydonoghue point to make it 1-5 unanswered for the reigning champions. Impressive stuff and all the evidence one could need to know the title was heading back to Coolard for another twelve months.
Ballyduff’s back was broke and, while Barry O’Grady did point another free to make the half-time score 1-5 to 0-3, the outcome of the game was all but guaranteed. Save for the nagging notion that Ballyduff being Ballyduff nothing could be taken for granted and Ballydonoghue, to their credit, certainly didn’t take anything for granted.
A Mikey
Boyle free at the start of the second half tightened the game back up to a four point game.
Ballydonoghue’s response to that Boyle free was as comprehensive as it was emphatic.
Ballydonoghue went on to hit seven unanswered points – and were denied a second goal when Brian Ó Seanacháin’s effort was saved by Seán Browne – before Ballyduff mustered a late consolation goal by Jack Goulding.
It was too little too late for the county hurling champions, but even had they got it earlier (and they did have a chance saved and deflected wide on thirty nine minutes) it wouldn’t have made much of a difference we suspect. Ballydonoghue were that much better.
Once they got to grips with the conditions, they were obviously the superior force. In the second half they won the vast majority of the primary possession and used it effectively.
On a difficult day for football they played the best of it on view. A final tally of 1-13 was no mean achievement for the day that was in it. The pre-championship favourites showed just why they were.
After Sunday we’re left in little doubt – the Ballydonoghue era up north is just beginning.
BALLYDONOGHUE: Darragh O’Shea, Stephen Lonergan, Jason Foley (0-1), Billy Foley, Thomas Kennelly (0-3, 1f), Michael Foley, Jack Gogarty, Eamon Walsh (0-1), Martin O’Mahony, Jim Cremin, Brian Ó Seanacháin, Darragh Sheehy (1-1), Jack Foley (0-1), Paul Kennelly (0-6, 5f), Kieran Lynch Subs: Colin O’Mahony for M Foley (inj), 49, Jack Behan for J Foley, 57, Pádraig Enright for J Gogary, 63
BALLYDUFF: Seán Browne, Thomas Slattery, Seán Costello, Cathal Kearney, John Paul Leahy, Paul O’Carroll, Anthony O’Carroll, Paud Costello, Jack O’Sullivan, Paddy Moran, Pádraig Boyle, David Goulding, Mikey Boyle (0-1f), Barry O’Grady (03f), Jack Goulding (1-0) Subs: Liam Boyle for S Costello, 38, Eddie Joy for D Goulding, 53, Johnny Regan for P O’Carroll, 59 Black Cards: Daniel O’Carroll for JP Leahy, 41, Darren O’Connor for D O’Carroll, 49
REFEREE: Seamus Mulvihill (St Senans)