Ballyduff win a shadow box with ever-improving Crotta
THERE’S always a danger with these winners’ round games that you’re left to question exactly just what it is that you’re watching.
Are both these teams giving absolutely it everything they’ve got? Are they – subconsciously or otherwise – comfortable enough with the concept of losing, knowing they’ve another day out regardless of what happens?
For a lot of this match we were left with those sorts of questions. It didn’t feel – to us at least – like it had the real championship intensity and edge. It wasn’t that the teams weren’t trying, obviously they were, but it wasn’t quite at the level one would expect at the same time.
It was scrappy and disjointed too with a lot of poor fouling on both sides. Admittedly, Ballyduff seemed to give away more frees in scorable positions than Crotta did and with Shane Nolan in the kind of form he was in that’s never a particularly clever thing to do.
What sustained Ballyduff more than anything else in this game was the sheer brilliance of Jack Goulding. There was no question as to this guy’s desire. He wanted it, he was ravenous for ball and for scores.
Following on from an early Pádraig Boyle free, Goulding had the ball in the back of Adam O’Sullivan’s net just three minutes into the game. He turned his man inside out and cut in on the Horan’s end goal line from the stand side and somehow – possibly with the aid of a deflection – squeezed it past O’Sullivan.
Crotta, to give them their dues, were in no way rattled by this and
THE GAME IN 60 SECONDS MAIN MAN
It has to be Jack Goulding. The man was in brilliant form, scoring 2-5 from play and tormenting a very good Crotta full-back line.
TALKING POINT
Liam Boyle followed in his namesake father’s footsteps and lined out between the sticks for the green and white on Saturday evening. Could it be the first of many appearances for Boyle in the position?
KEY MOMENT
Probably Jack Goulding’s second goal. Even when they weren’t playing great in the first half that two goal cushion always put them in a powerful position to kick on in the second half
were arguably the better side for much of the first half. Scores from Jordan Conway and Shane Nolan kept them in touch and even had them in front by the twenty-fifth minute.
As fate would have it that’s when Goulding struck for his second. This time following up on a long ball into the box, which Crotta didn’t deal with, and striking it to the back of O’Sullivan’s next for the second time in less than half an hour.
Remarkably Crotta again regrouped and by the half-time break had reclaimed their lead scoring three unanswered to round out the half, 0-11 to 2-4. There’s a greater resilience to this Crotta side than those of years past and they continued with that sort of fight into the second half.
Ballyduff started much stronger it has to be said – three on the bounce through Mikey Boyle, Pádraig Boyle and Jack Goulding before Crotta responded through Barry Mahony who shot over from an outrageous distance.
The game remained in the balance for much of the second half. By the three quarter mark there was just a score between the sides – 2-9 to 0-14 following a point from Crotta’s Darragh O’Donoghue.
Ballyduff, though, always seemed to have that little bit more about them in the game’s critical phase. It still a one point game ten minutes later, but Ballyduff were able to kick for home that little bit more strongly.
A pair of points from Goulding on sixty one and sixty four minutes essentially wrapped the game up and, while Crotta did get one more, Goulding again had the capacity to strike a killer blow.
Ballyduff probably did look a little more vulnerable than they did in their first round game, but again the caveat has to be that this was not a knock-out fixture and that’s when the green and white really comes to life.
For their part Crotta O’Neills will have plenty reason to be pleased with their performance. They’ve got a real resilience to them now and, probably, it’s better that they play a quarter-final before a potential semi-final.
A young team looking to develop will always stand to benefit from games.
BALLYDUFF: Liam Boyle, Darren O’Connor, Paud Costello, Anthony O’Carroll, David Goulding, Eoin Ross (0-1), Ally O’Connor, John Hussey, Mikey Boyle (01), Jack O’Sullivan, Daniel O’Carroll, Paul O’Carroll (0-1), Jack Goudling (2-5), Gary O’Brien, Pádraig Boyle (0-5, 4f) Subs: Maurice Dowling for J Hussey, 51
CROTTA O’NEILLS: Adam O’Sullivan, Thomas Quinlan, Seán Weir, Richard Nolan, Jeaic McKenna, Tomás O’Connor, Tom B McElligott, Barry Mahony (0-1), Darragh Kennelly, Pádraig Quille, Jordan Conway (0-3), Eamon Shanahan, Darragh O’Donoghue (0-1), Shane Nolan (0-11, 10f), Raymond Nolan Subs: Donal Hunt for D Kennelly, 54, Cyril Lynch for T Quinlan, 57