Ballyduff shock and awe dooms Causeway

ACCORDING to an online dictionary a catalyst is “a substance that enables a chemical reaction to proceed at a usually faster rate or under different conditions (as at a lower temperature) than otherwise possible.”

Another way of putting it would be what Padraig Boyle did for Ballyduff on Sunday afternoon. Up until then Ballyduff had been a pale shadow of their former selves in the championship.

Add a little Padraig Boyle to the mix and the reaction proceeded at a much accelerated rate. The decision – and maybe it was made of necessity given injuries and what have you – to give Boyle his first start in twelve months was momentous.

Ballyduff were anything but plodding in the first ten minutes of this game. They were absolutely explosive. Between the second and eighth minutes Ballyduff raised the green flag four times and the white once too for good measure.

In a powerful display of direct hurling, physical strength and determination Ballyduff showed absolutely no mercy in dismantling Causeway during that game-defining period.

It’s no exaggeration to suggest whatever followed on from that early spell of shock and awe was irrelevant. Not quite gone in sixty seconds for Causeway, but not far off it all the same.

The first goal saw Gary O’Brien set up John Hussey. The second saw Padraig Boyle feed Jack Goulding. The third goal was an all Boyle affair as Podge set up brother Liam. For the fourth goal Liam returned the favour.

The fourth goal was, probably, the pick of the bunch. Liam went long, Podge claimed over his man just outside the box on the end line. He turned, cut inside and planted past Tadhg Flynn.

Causeway were discombobulated, utterly so. Inside that opening ten minutes Padraig Boyle had three separate markers, fullback Kieran Leahy for a spell, centre-back Bryan Murphy too and finally Sean Leahy, named at full-forward, but initially lining out at centre-field.

Leahy finally seemed to tame Boyle, but more likely the Ballyduff whirlwind had blown itself out. Ballyduff were practically scoring a goal a minute at that stage, nobody could keep that relentless pace up for long.

It is worth noting that they did have the breeze at their back in the first half, even so there was no way it was a four goal breeze, as the second half would demonstrate soon enough.

Even after the goal splurge Ballyduff outscored Causeway ten points to four and stretched their half-time advantage to eighteen – 4-11 to 0-5 – with Liam Boyle playing a pivotal role at centre-forward and Padraig O’Grady more than holding his own against Causeway’s Tommy Casey at centre-back.

The first half was a disaster on an epic scale for Causeway. There’s no point in saying otherwise, there’s no point in sugar-coating it. We speculated at half-time that Ballyduff wouldn’t have to score again in the game to ensure victory and so it was to prove.

The maroon and white managed 1-10 in the second half, thirteen points. Ballyduff would have been comfortable five point winners in that scenario. That, of course, is not how it played out.

Ballyduff may not have been as dominant in the second half – there is that breeze to consider – but they did enough to keep the scoreboard ticking over when they needed to. Indeed, Padraig Boyle forced a save from Flynn with a snap shot just seconds after the restart.

To give Causeway their dues their heads never dropped despite the position they found themselves in. Brandon Barrett was a constant driving force for them, even in the first half.

The young wing-back – he played too in an advanced position at times – scored three points from play and looks certain to make the cut at inter-county level before long and that’s the great mystery of Causeway.

They do have all that potential we speak of. They do have hurlers of real quality. They just haven’t been able to pull it all together yet. On Sunday they looked skilful, they didn’t, however, have any answer for Ballyduff’s sheer physicality.

Causeway did, of course, manage to find the back of the net – they had an earlier effort in the half from Sean Leahy saved by PJ O’Gorman – when second half substitute Mark Murphy pulled on a loose ball and past a thicket of bodies found the back of the net.

It was too little, too late, Ballyduff still led by ten. By the end of the game that margin was stretched back out to thirteen when Jack Goulding got on a run, found himself some space and planted, with the help of a slight deflection, past Flynn.

All of a sudden Ballyduff look real contenders for the cham- pionship. At their best they are powerful, they are direct and they are, self evidently, lethal when presented with chances like they were on Sunday.

Causeway remain an enigma as we’ve already said. Their tally of 1-15 is enough to win most championship games in Kerry, but their total failure to deal with Padraig Boyle in those early exchanges was disappointing to say the least. BALLYDUFF: PJ O’Gorman, Thomas Slattery, Paud Costello, David O’Grady, Eoin Ross, Padraig O’Grady, Eric O’Connor (0-1), Daniel O’Carroll (0-1), Mikey Boyle, John Hussey (1-0), Liam Boyle (1-2), Anthony O’Carroll, Jack Goulding (2-1), Padraig Boyle (1-9, 6f, 1 ‘65), Gary O’Brien (0-2) Subs: Barry O’Grady for J Hussey, 47, Paul O’Carroll for G O’Brien, 56, David Goulding for A O’Carroll, 62 CAUSEWAY: Tadhg Flynn, Eamon Fitzgerald, Kieran Leahy, Billy Lyons, Jason Diggins, Bryan Murphy (0-1), Brandon Barrett (0-3), Anthony Fealy, Jason Leahy (0-1), Keith Carmody (0-4), Tommy Casey, Paul McGrath (0-4, 3f), Darren Leahy, Sean Leahy, Cyril Dineen Subs: John Cantillon for K Leahy, 28, Stephen Murphy (0-2) for C Dineen, 30, Mark Murphy (1-0) for D Leahy, 38, Joseph Diggins for P McGrath, 49, Alan Whyte for B Barrett, 60 REFEREE: Rory McGann (Clare)