Second win in the division 3 league

We took on Fermoy away in an intriguing encounter last Tuesday evening in the Cavanagh’s of Fermoy division 3 league. The sides were evenly matched throughout and we had to dig deep in the end to come away with the narrowest of wins.

Ballygiblin 2-10 Fermoy 1-12

The game got off to a flyer and within the first minute we rattled the crossbar after a number of passes through the lines saw Seamus Barrett baring down on goal, unfortunately his shot came off the bar and wide. Fermoy responded going down the field to get the opening score and both sides then swapped points, but each would be wasteful in the opening quarter registering 11 wides between them. Our backs were playing well with Jack Lewis having a stormer at centre back. We did take a one-point advantage into the water break with Diarmuid Lynch tapping over after a lovely pass from Ryan Donegan at midfield and Dylan Sheehan putting over a free.

We made several changes at this point with an agreement to use rolling subs throughout the game. We further enhanced our lead on 18 minutes when Dylan Sheehan found the back of the net, he was cheeky taking on his man and flicking the ball over his head but his flick paid dividends when he blasted a shot to the lower right corner. Shortly afterwards Seamus Barrett’s speed saw him get away from the Fermoy defence to point off his hurley and put us 5 up and he was unlucky a few minutes later when the umpires had to consult before deeming his shot wide.

Fermoy were still well in the game, but our defence were tenacious and made Fermoy work for their scores, they did get 2 back before we scored our final point of the half with a fine strike from Dylan Sheehan. Fermoy would get the last score to leave 3 between the sides at half time, Ballygiblin 1-05 to 0-05.

Fermoy started the half brightly and earned a free as part of the throw-in, then followed this up with 2 quick points from play before Jodie Finn in goals had the final touch on a low taken free to see Fermoy take the lead after only 5 minutes of play. On the other sides we were struggling to find the target and racking up wides as well as shots short into the Fermoy keeper. Fermoy would continue on a roll on the 9th minute when they found the net after a high ball into the square saw Jodie come off his line and a little tap from the forward over the heads of both Jodie and Kevin at fullback saw it go over the unoccupied goal line.

Their 4-point lead was short lived when good work from Diarmuid Noonan saw him hook his man and Aidan Donegan was quick off the mark to pick up the loose ball and send a lovely pass to Diarmuid Lynch on the 30 and he blasted an unstoppable shot to the net. We had 2 further chances before the water break but had to settle for going in 1 point in arrears.

The sides swapped points on the resumption and we were again unlucky to see the umpire consulting after Kieran Doherty’s shot was eventually deemed wide. Fermoy would get their final 2 points on the 25th and 27th minute to see them 3 up with 3 minutes plus injury to play. In fairness the boys put the shoulder to the wheel and Ryan Donegan put over a free near the sideline and Seamus Barrett was instrumental in the next 3 attacks. He showed his speed to run through the defence and tap over from close range and he was unlucky with a further shot seeing it go short into the keeper.

John O’Donoghue was having a fine game after moving to half back and won a great ball and pinpointed a lovely pass to Seamus to run down the middle, his man eventually blatantly fouling him just outside the square. Ryan easily put over the resulting free and the sides were level as we entered injury time.

Fermoy raced up the field and looked to be sealing the win but thankfully for us their shot went wide and there was still time to launch another attack. Dylan Mulqueen got on the end of the puck out and was fouled at midfield. Ryan stepping up to take the long range free at the death and put it over to secure the one-point victory. Ballygiblin 2-10 to Fermoy 1-12. Fair play to the lads to pull it out of the bag at the end and we had great performances throughout the field. It was also great to see James Crotty back playing and looking lively at midfield after his nasty injury last year.

Team: J Finn, B Coughlan, J O’Donoghue, C O’Brien, D Mulqueen, J Lewis, K Bowler, J Crotty, R Donegan (0-04F), N Fitzgerald, D Lynch (1-01), S Barrett (0-02), A Donegan, K Doherty (0-01F) and D Sheehan (1-02 1F). Rolling subs used: S O’Brien, D Noonan, G O’Keeffe, P Kearney and S Doherty.

PITCH DEVELOPMENT

We are finalising the layout plans for the pitch development and are holding a meeting for members, players and the juvenile and camogie clubs on Saturday, July 10 at 11am at Ballygiblin pitch. We will go through the current plans and have a walk through the layout, so if you are interested to find out more or have recommendations you would like to share then please come along. Also, the membership is now overdue so we will be happy to take any outstanding membership on the morning.

SYMPATHIES

The club would like to extend their sympathies to the Caplice, English, O’Brien and Barry families and friends on their recent losses.