STRATFORD REBORN
Sean O’Sullivan’s men get the better of Ballinacor
STRATFORD-GR 0-15 BALLINACOR 0-11 IF there was an award for most improved team in this year’s Intermediate football championship then Stratford-Grangecon surely have to be the winners after they put Ballinacor to the sword in Aughrim last Saturday evening.
This fairly significant scalp for the west side comes on the back of a dogged and brave display in Baltinglass against Carnew Emmets and both games came after what can only be described as a lacklustre and disappointing opening day defeat to Donard-The Glen that promised nothing but misery for Sean O’Shea’s men.
But credit to Stratford-Grangecon they have turned their season around and are playing like a team who have united and who are using all the tools at their disposal to get the better of their opponents.
Key to Saturday’s victory was the performances of Kieran Byrne and Matt Manley.
Byrne’s six points, four from frees, were vital, and Manley’s haul of four points and his overall work around the field was very impressive. Throw in a feisty Patrick Cronin in the goals, a focused full-back line of Marcus Hanbidge, Michael Mangan, and Ian Moore, a steady Eoin O’Neill, and the hard-working midfield duo of Shane Byrne and Mark Landon and you have a very decent squad. The busy Mark Caplice and the hard-working Jason Bolger shouldn’t be overlooked either.
In fairness to Ballinacor they were without the services of two important figures in the form of Conor Parsons and Chris Murphy but their inclusion might not have affected this result in too dramatic a fashion given the energy and the passion of the Stratford men.
It was Ballinacor who got off the mark first in this encounter, played in front of yet another tiny crowd in Aughrim. Full-back Christopher Kennedy rampaged up the field to point the opening score after four minutes.
Both teams were employing two sweepers and there were a number of positional switches early on including Larry McGrath playing out in the half-forward line despite being named at full-forward and Kieran Byrne standing on the edge of the square for a time.
It was Byrne who got Stratford-Grangecon off the mark with a lovely point from play after taking a short pass from Matthew Manley who was in turn supplied by the trundling Mark Landon.
Ballinacor corner-forward Jamie Nolan then gathered a lovely cross-field ball from Ronan Phelan and he bombed over a fine score and a poor Patrick Cronin kick out gave Peter Kennedy a chance for a score and the alert half-forward duly obliged to give Ballinacor a 0-03 to 0-01 lead after 13 minutes.
But Stratford-Grangecon were tenacious. Kieran Byrne from a free and the busy Mark Caplice from play drew the sides level.
A Ger Byrne pointed free was immediately answered by a Matt Manley score from play but Byrne added another to return Ballinacor to the lead at 0-05 to 0-04 but up stepped Kieran Byrne to fire over a free as the action flowed from one end to the other.
A superb Matt Manley point after 24 minutes gave Stratford-Grangecon the lead but James Murphy was fouled by Adam Doyle and Ger Byrne did the necessary.
However, the last word of the first half went to the impressive Matt Manley who slotted over a superb score after a mightly move all the way up the field. 0-07 to 0-06 in favour of Stratford-Grangecon at the break.
The sides were tied at 0-08 apiece when the decisive moment arrived in the game. A great point from Kieran Byrne had levelled matters again but as play was set to get underway again an incident took place between Stratford-Grangecon’s Adam Doyle and Ballinacor’s Ger Byrne and Doyle was shown a red card by referee John Whyte.
And as is often the case, the sending off galvanised the Stratford-Grangecon men and sent Joe Murphy’s men into a spell of tail chasing from which they never recovered.
James Murphy did point Ballinacor into the lead immediately after he sending off but Kieran Byrne pointed a free and substitute James Barrett was introduced and he fired over a sweet score from a free. Shane Byrne added another before Ballinacor’s Danny Byrne fired over a wicked score to make it 0-13 to 0-10 for Sean O’Sullivan’s side.
And then another turning point arrived. A Ballinacor attack bore down on the Stratford-Grangecon goal and the ball was worked to Peter Kennedy who met a rapidly approaching Patrick Cronin and what might have been a vital goal became a wide with four minutes remaining.
Stratford-Grangecon rallied again and they weren’t going to be beaten and they added points from Mark Caplice and Shane Byrne before Paddy Byrne closed the scoring to leave it 0-15 to 0-11 in favour of the Stratford-Grangecon men.
Scorers – Stratford-Grangecon: Kieran Byrne 0-06 (4f); Matthew Manley 0-04; Mark Caplice 0-02; Shane Byrne 0-02 (1f); James Barrett 0-01.
Ballinacor: Ger Byrne 0-05 (4f); Christopher Kennedy 0-01; Jamie Nolan 0-01, Peter Kennedy 0-01, James Murphy 0-01, Danny Byrne 0-01, Paddy Byrne 0-01.
Stratford-Grangecon: Patrick Cronin; Marcus Hanbidge, Michael Mangan, Ian Moore; Adam Doyle, Eoin O’Neill, Jason Bolger; Mark Landon, Shane Byrne; Kieran Byrne, Matthew Manley, Colin Byrne; Mark Caplice, Larry McGrath, David Cush. Subs: James Barrett for L McGrath (45min).
Ballinacor: Ciaran O’Neill; Sean Boyle, Christopher Kennedy, Denis Heffernan; John Devitt, James Byrne, Danny Byrne; Danny Dowling, Paddy Byrne; Peter Kennedy, Ronan Phelan, Brian Hanlon; Jamie Nolan, James Murphy, Ger Byrne. Subs: John Paul Byrne for D Heffernan (32min); Philip Byrne for B Hanlon (45min); David Carter for J Murphy (BC, 58min).
Ref: John Whyte (Donard)