Reigning champs make progress
NORTH KERRY SFC ROUND 1
Ballydonoghue 1-13 Ballylongford 0-7
THIS game was played in excellent underfoot conditions at O’Rahilly Park, Ballylongford. There was, however, a stiff breeze that blew across the field.
Ballydonoghue, the defending champions, justified their favouritism by defeating great rivals Ballylongford in a fairly well contested encounter. Ballydonoghue in fairness were always in control of the game and never looked in any danger of an upset, but credit this youthful Ballylongford outfit who for the bigger part of the contest were playing catch-up football and never threw in the towel and battled to the final whistle.
Certainly this battled-hardened Ballydonoghue even without the services of their Kerry panellist, Jason Foley on the day will be hard to stop; with players of the calibre of Michael Foley and Stephen Lonergan who marshalled their defence well, Martin O’Mahony and Eamon Walsh dominated midfield especially the latter who gave a man of the match performance, kicking four long range points into the bargain.
In attack Brian Ó Seanachain and Dara Sheehy were on top of their game; on the other hand. Michael McEllistrim who had the huge task of marking the Ballydonoghue top marksman, Paul Kennelly and came out of top of this duel; Tadhg McEllistrim, James O’Connor, Jack Mulvihill and Ciaran O’Connor also stood out.
The game was only three minutes old when wing-back, Tommy Kennelly kicked a fantastic long range point followed by a Paul Kennelly free. A late tackle on Jack Mulvihill at midfield saw the ball land on the 21 meter line and Ciaran O’Connor duly opened Ballylongford’s account after 10 minutes from a free.
Four points in a row and all from play by Eamon Walsh, Dara Sheehy, (2) and Paul Kennelly saw Ballydonoghue go ahead after 17 minutes. Jack Mulvihill who made some terrific runs at the Ballydonoghue defence and Jack Behan exchanged points.
For the remaining 10 minutes or so it was end to end stuff and the home team missed a glorious opportunity of a goal that would have cut the deficit to a two-point margin, but when it looked easier to score the ball drifted wide. Kieran Lynch had the final score of the half for the visitors leaving the interval score; Ballydonoghue, 0-8 Ballylongford 0-2.
On resumption Ballylongford hit the ground running and two pointed frees from Ciaran O’Connor and another from Padraig O’Neill had the margin down to two. Ballydonoghue weathered the storm and should have a goal of their own as the ball rattled the crossbar, then off a defender and out to safety.
Paul Kennelly swung over a free as the visitors started to turn the screw; Eamon Walsh with three points and another coming from Dara Sheehy as Ballylongford only reply came from Jermiah Tydings in the 20th minute.
The home team continued to come forward as Ballydonoghue emptied their bench and when Jim Cremin got an early Christmas present with a simple tap-in with four minutes remaining that was that. Ballylongford substitute Seanie Kennelly, just introduced, closed the game’s scoring in injury time.
BALLYDONOGHUE: Darragh O’Shea, Stephen Lonergan, Diarmuid Behan, Billy Foley, Thomas Kennelly 0-1, Michael Foley, Padraig Enright, Eamon Walsh, 0-4, Martin O’Mahony, Jim Cremin 1-0, Brian O’Seannachain, Dara Sheehy 0-3, Jack Behan 0-1, Paul Kennelly 0-3 (2f), Kieran Lynch Subs: Damien O’Carroll for Kieran Lynch, Jack Gogarty for Padraig Enright, Danny Power for Diarmuid Behan, Wayne Dowling for Martin O’Mahony, Stephen Foley for Jim Cremin, Brian Mason for Jack Behan
BALLYLONGFORD: Paudie Moroney, James O’Connor, Michael McEllistrim, Kenneth Tydings, Matt O’Connor, Joe McCarthy, Tadhg McEllistrim, Jack Mulvihill, Stephen Foley, Padraig O’Neill 0-1, Liam McElligott, Eoin O’Connor, Jermiah Tydings 0-1, Kenneth Foley, Ciaran O’Connor 0-4f Subs: Darren Murphy for Eoin O’Connor, Sean Kennelly 0-1 for Kenneth Foley, Thomas Doherty for Ciaran O’Connor, Sean Carmody for Matt O’Connor