AGB SENIORS BEAT BALTINGLASS FOR FIRST TIME IN DECADES
FOR the first time in 58 years an Arklow football team got the better of a Baltinglass outfit in Senior championship football last Saturday evening in Joule Park Aughrim and what a fully deserved and impressive win it was.
It was way back in 1960 when the men of Arklow made the short trip to Aughrim to take on the fancied Baltinglass men and they caused a seismic shock when they turned them over by 0-7 to 0-5 on a wet evening at the county grounds.
The shock may not have been so seismic last Saturday, but the win was probably as equally enjoyable for the AGB side as a stunning opening half performance left the Baltinglass men reeling having been sliced apart for three wonderful goals in those opening 30 minutes.
The AGB victory has heaped huge pressure on Ciaran Walshe’s side. With four games played and two defeats on the table, they now need to beat Blessington in their last game and hope that St Pat‘s and Annacurra get the better of AGB in their last two games to allow them progress to the championship quarter-finals.
Damien Redmond’s side had the damage done within 40 min- utes when they had put four goals past county netminder Mark Jackson thanks to razor sharp attacking instincts and lovely flowing football with excellent performances from the likes of Tom Maher, Ciaran Hyland, JP Hurley, Darragh Fitzgerald, Cormac O’Shea, Cathal Kelleher and Chris O’Brien.
The Baltinglass ploy of high balls on top of Mikey English was negated by a solid showing from AGB full-back James Tyrrell and Ciaran Hyland’s performance on John McGrath went a long way to blunting the Baltinglass attack.
Cathal Kelleher opened the scoring for AGB after five minutes. Dan Kelly had dropped a ball short to Mervyn Travers and a Stephen Hurley 45 and an under-hit Philip Healy effort had been gathered by Mark Jackson in the preceding minutes as both sides took a few moments to settle.
Defences were performing well at this stage. John Murray robbed Philip Healy as AGB came hunting and Tom Maher was doing the pilfering at the other end when he thwarted John McGrath and away AGB went.
Damien Redmond’s men won a sideline ball, Maher took it to Ciaran Hyland and he was fouled by Peadar Burke.
The free was moved forward and taken to JP Hurley, he picked out Darragh Fitzgerald the ball was in the back of the net making it 1-1 to 0-0.
Mikey English got Baltinglass up and running but seconds later Mark Jackson was retrieving the ball from the back of his net after Cormac O’Shea lashed home to the top corner after good work from JP Hurley and Cathal Kelleher.
Baltinglass steadied somewhat with two points, one from Chris Heaslip and the other from Dan Kelly (free), but AGB could smell blood and they went in search of green flags and Chris O’Brien fired home low and hard to the bottom corner after 20 minutes to make it 3-2 to 0-3, JP Hurley grabbing AGB’s second point after a wonderful move up the field.
O’Brien’s goal didn’t just cost Baltinglass three points, it also lost them the services of John Murray who was dismissed on a black card after taking Cormac O’Shea out of the game in the lead up to the goal.
Dan Kelly (free), Mark Jackson (free) and John McGrath improved Baltinglass’ lot at the end of the first half while Stephen Hurley pointed for AGB to leave Redmond’s men leading by 3-4 to 0-6 at the break with Chris Heaslip firing wide from a goal chance in the dying moments of the opening 30.
Two early points for Baltinglass left five between the teams, John McGrath and Mikey English (free) the scorers, but they were wayward in front of the posts around this time with wides from Dan Kelly, Mark Jackson and Mikey English.
A superb JP Hurley point after
eight minutes of the second half was followed by a foul on the AGB midfielder by Ian Sheerin and up steeped Andrew Maher to place the ball on the spot and calmly but devastatingly deposit the ball to the back of the Baltinglass net and make it 4-5 to 0-8.
Three unanswered points from Baltinglass left six points between the sides at 4-5 to 0-11 and it was clear that Ciaran Walshe’s men needed goals and they needed them quick.
But the AGB defence wasn’t for parting, with Tyrrell, Kirwan and Maher shining under pressure.
A Cathal Kelleher point on 57 mintes left the Arklow men up by seven and although Peadar Burke’s goal after 62 closed the gap to four at 4-6 to 1-11, Baltinglass didn’t have the time to launch a late comeback and AGB claimed what could be a season defining victory that was enjoyed immensely by players and supporters alike.
Scorers – AGB: Cathal Kelleher 0-3, Andrew Maher 1-0 (p), Chris O’Brien 1-0, Cormac O’Shea 1-0, Darragh Fitzgerald 1-0, JP Hurley 0-2, Stephen Hurley 0-1.
Baltinglass: Peadar Burke 1-0, Daniel Kelly 0-3 (2f), John McGrath 0-3, Mikey English 0-2 (2f), Mark Jackson 0-1 (f), Chris Heaslip 0-1, Jason Kennedy 0-1.
AGB: Meryvn Travers; Karl Kirwan, James Tyrrell, Tom Maher; Cal Kelly,
Ciaran Hyland, Andrew Maher; JP Hurley, Stephen Hurley; Darragh Fitzgerald, Cormac O’Shea, Peter Hempenstall; Cathal Kelleher, Chris O’Brien, Philip Healy. Subs: Cormac Hyland for P Hempenstall (36min), Ciaran O’Shea for C Kelly (48min), Shane McBride for C Kelleher (57min), Tiernan McBride for P Healy.
Baltinglass: Mark Jackson; John Murray, Ian Sheerin, Billy Cullen; Patrick Burke, Stephen Heaslip, Cian Lee; Kevin Murphy, Jason Kennedy; Jordan Deans, Daniel Kelly, Peadar Burke; John McGrath, Mickey English, Chris Heaslip. Subs: David Gethings for J Murray (BC, 20min), Adam McHugh for J Deans (45min), Brian Lord for C Heaslip (55min), Sean O’Brien for M English (58min).