Ballygiblin maintain unbeaten run

Ballygiblin maintained their unbeaten run in the Red FM Division 3 League with a deserved victory over Tracton in Minane Bridge last Saturday on a beautiful afternoon for hurling. We had huge support from our loyal supporters and outnumbered the home crowd.

Ballygiblin 1-17 Tracton 0-17

The game got off to a lively start and we were level 2 points each after 2 minutes, we had a free by Joseph O’Sullivan and a long-range point from Darragh Flynn who was welcomed back after a long injury layoff.

With 10 minutes gone we were 5 to 2 up with another free from Joseph and one from play and another from Darragh out by the side-line after been set up by Shane Beston. Dillion Sheehan was then unlucky not to have rattled the net when he caught a long clearance from Micheal Lewis on the edge of the square only for it to be blocked by the corner back.

Joseph then had this third from a free to put us 4 up. From the resulting puck out Colin English who was playing at centre back caught the ball and his clearance found Sean O’Sullivan.

Sean had to work hard to prevent the ball going wide and from a very acute angle his ground shot found the net leaving us leading 1-06 to 0-02 up with 12 minutes played. We were playing with great confidence and were dominant all over the field with our backs on top and Darragh and Joseph pulling the strings at midfield and our forwards making life difficult for the Tracton backs.

Darragh then got our next score from 80 metres and Joseph hit over his 4th free as we headed for the final 10 minutes of the half leading by 9 points. We had managed to hold them scoreless since the opening 2 minutes and their frustration was showing with some very hard tackles.

Their third point came on the 20th minute and as Christopher was watching the ball go over the bar their full forward took him out, leaving the ref with no option but to send him off.

Tracton responded to this, scoring the next 2 points but Joseph replied with another pointed free. Darragh then got our next 2 points and Tracton finished the scoring with a free to leave the halftime score Ballygiblin 1-11 to 0-06.

Tracton obviously regrouped at halftime and the first 10 minutes were a nightmare for us as we couldn’t get on the ball and it was looking like they were the ones with the extra man.

We were suddenly making mistakes all over the field. In that 10-minute period they hit us for 5 unanswered points to leave it 1-11 to 0-11. We finally got on the scoreboard with a free and Tracton did likewise and followed it up with another from play to leave only 2 points in it. Sean added a point but Tracton replied with 2 frees to leave the bare minimum between us with 15 minutes left to play. Dillion then added a vital point.

Joseph then went down with a leg injury but managed to play on and got a massive point and a minute later he hit another beauty over the bar while falling. He was then replaced by Shane Doyle who worked hard to win a breaking ball at midfield, and he found Kieran Duggan with a great pass and Kieran struck over to give us the insurance point with only 4 minutes to play. Tracton finished the scoring with a point and we were happy to hear the final whistle, winning on a scoreline of Ballygiblin 1-17 to 0-17.

Overall this was a great game to win and fair play to the lads they really dug deep in the second half when the tide was turning against us and Tracton got within a point of us.

Credit to Ronan and Dave they made some vital switches in the 2nd half which paid off bring Sean and Kieran to the half forward line but we will unhappy with letting Tracton back into the game after such a lead at half-time. Thanks also to our supporters who urged the lads on from start to finish. With 2 games left to play against Cloughduv and Sarsfields, Ballygiblin are still top of the table with 3 wins and a draw and are currently one point ahead of Castlemartyr. Next fixture – May 21st Ballygiblin v Cloughduv in Ballygiblin at 14.00.

Team: C Noonan, L Finn, F Herlihy, C O’Brien, B Coffey, C English, M Lewis, J O’Sullivan (0-09 6F), D Flynn (0-05), S Beston, D Barry, D Sheehan (0-01), A Donegan, S O’Sullivan (1-01) K Duggan (0-01). Subs D Reidy Price for A Donegan, S Doyle for J O’Sullivan (inj).

U19 SUFFER ANOTHER DEFEAT

Last week the U19s travelled back to Kanturk to take on Banteer/Kanturk in their final U19 County group game, they came up against a tough side and unfortunately they were a lot better than us and finished on a scoreline of Ballygiblin 1-11 Banteer/Kanturk 1-25.

GOLF CLASSIC

The countdown is on to the golf classic with only 2 weeks to go until Friday, 27th May. If you can’t attend then you can still get involved by sponsoring a team or tee box, any support would be gratefully appreciated with funds raised going towards our development plans.

There will be some fantastic prizes up for grabs on the day as well as refreshments and a meal on completion. Should you require further details on the event, please do not hesitate to contact: Brian Molan 086-8053590, Eibhlín O’Brien 086-8647356, Sean O’Sullivan 087-6161949 or Paul Hennessy 0861630232.