Stratford-Grangecon back on track with victory

STRATFORD-GR BALLINACOR

STRATFORD picked up their first points, in round two of group two, of the Darcy Sand’s Intermediate Football Championship on Saturday evening last, with a very hard earned win over Ballinacor, who fought all the way out to the final whistle.

The west side made hard work of the win, after dominating the early exchanges in what finished up a tight affair as Stratford could had the game wrapped up at half time.

Matt Manley opened the scoring in the first attack with a point, before lively corner-forward Colin Byrne split the posts from an acute angle to get Pat Cronin’s side off to a good start in the opening minutes.

James Murphy landed a pointed free after Ronan Phelan was fouled to put Paudie Byrne’s Ballinacor side on the scoreboard in the next attack.

Stratford were winning lots of possession around the middle sector in the early exchanges and another great run through by Matt Manley yielded his second point of the evening.

Kieran Byrne landed Stratford’s fourth point after some great build up play by Michael Mangan and Ross Coogan.

Ballinacor hit a couple of bad wide’s in the next few visit

s to their oponent’s goal, with some poor shot selection,before Paddy Byrne tagged on a point. Diarmuid Cronin punished Ballinacor with a brace of points to close out the opening quarter with the slaneysiders leading six points to three.

Stratford suffered a blow when their free-taker Ross Coogan went off for treatment for a head injury and cut lip and was replaced by Alan Norton as a blood sub and Norton then landed an inspirational point as they lead went out to four.

Danny Carter soloed 35 meters through the Stratford rearguard and drew a powerful save from goalie Paddy Cronin, who dived low to put the ball out for a 45. A high ball went into the danger zone where Ger Byrne was in like a light to tip the ball down to David Carter who dispatched the ball to the net, however it was double trouble for Stratford, as goalie Paddy Cronin picked up a black card, as it was deemed a late tackle on Ger Byrne in the initial play.

James Barrett came on as the replacement keeper. Paddy Walshe was cutting out a lot of attacking play by Ballinacor where Michael Dowling and James Byrne were showing well.

Matt Manley who was winning plenty of dirty ball, pointed his third point of the evening in the next attack, in what would be the last score off the half in the 25th minute. Stratford wasted a number of chances in the closing stages, landing four more bad wides to let Ballinacor off the hook with the scoreboard reading 0-8 to 1-3 at the break.

Colin Byrne pointed on the restart after great buid up play by Ruairi Phelan, as Stratford yet again hit the ground running. Ballinacor replied with a fine point from the boot of Paddy Byrne.

Full-forward, Diarmuid Cronin pointed Stratford’s tenth of the game in the 36th minute. Some savage defending by full-back Marcus Hanbidge brought a great roar from the stands as firstly, Marcus shook every tooth in a Ballinacor defender’s head with an unmerciful shoulder, followed up by flooring another defender with a bone crushing shoulder, before clearing his lines. Yet again, the Slaneysiders wasted a host of chances to put the game to bed, with some poor shooting and far to many turn overs.

Stratford sufferd another huge blow when Patrick Walshe picked up a black card, immediately followed by a red, for seemingly exchanging words with the match official.

Wing back Martin Byrne landed a long-range point to keep the Glenmalure men in touch, with the score now 0-10 to 1-5.

It was nearly 14 minutes between Stratford’s tenth and 11th point, with Colin Byrne pointing a badly needed score as the game went into the melting pot at this crucial stage.

Diarmuid Cronin registered their final point of the game before Michael Dowling added a point for Ballinacor as the intensity increased ten fold going into injury time with the lead now down to two points.

Ballinacor turned the screw and Paddy Byrne pointed to leave the minimum in it. Stratford just about held out with some resolute defending by Eoin O’Neill and Marcus Hanbidge as Ballinacor battled to the final whistle but to no avail.

Ballinacor must regroup quickly as the face a buoyant Tinahely next in Round 3, while Stratford return to Baltinglass to battle another contender for the IFC in Coolkenno.

Scorers - Stratford-Grangecon: Diarmuid Cronin 0-4, Matt Manley 0-3, Colin Byrne 0-3, Kieran Byrne 0-1, Alan Norton 0-1

Ballinacor: Paddy Byrne 0-4, David Carter 1-0, James Murphy 0-2, Martin Byrne0-1, Michael Dowling 0-1

Pat Cronin; Ian Moore, Marcus Hanbidge, Joe O’Neill; Patrick Walsh, Eoin O’Neill, Ruairi Phelan; Michael Mangan, Matt Manley; Ross Coogan, Jason Bolger, Larry McGrath; Kieran Byrne, Diarmuid Cronin, Colin Byrne. Subs: James Barrett, Mark Caplice.

Ciaran O’Neill; Denis Heffernan, Chris Kennedy, John Paul Byrne; Martin Byrne, James Byrne, John Devitt; Paddy Byrne, Michael Dowling; Jamie Nolan, Ronan Phelan, Peter Kennedy; Ger Byrne, James Murphy, David Carter. Subs: Tyrone Byrne, Stephen Dowling.

Brendan Furlong (Tina- hely)