Ballygarvan 2-12
Ballymartle 1-8
JJ HURLEY REPORTS
DEFENDING champions Ballygarvan proved far too strong for Ballymartle in the Procure.ie South East junior A football semi-final in Shanbally on Saturday.
Despite the eventual winning margin, Ballymartle were left wondering what-if, as Rickard Cahalane struck the post twice in the opening seven minutes.
It was the Riverstick men who were first out of the traps in the opening eight minutes, with two points from Dan O’Leary. It should have been a greater margin but fate intervened and the post saved the current South East champions facing a two-goal deficit.
The Ballygarvan men had their danger-man up front in Evan O’Connor, and his three consecutive points had his side in front after 15 minutes.
A 45 from Gary White was followed by a Stephen Fenton goal for Ballygarvan on 20 minutes, following a Daniel Mackey pass. O’Leary was then on target with a free for Ballymartle on 21 minutes as the score read 1-4 to 0-3 to the eventual winners. From there to the break, it was a point apiece as Mackey and Richard Deasy found the target. Ballygarvan led 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.
An early score from O’Leary proved to be a false dawn in the opening minutes of the second half as Ballygarvan took total control. With scores from Sean Brady (2), White (2) and O’Connor, Ballygarvan were beginning to put distance between themselves and their opponents, leading by 1-10 to 0-5 after 41 minutes.
The dismissal of Liam Corry did not help Ballymartle’s cause and was followed by a Daniel Mackey goal on 48 minutes that killed the contest. Ballymartle kept plugging away and were rewarded with a goal from a penalty dispatched by Ryan Deasy on 58 minutes, but in truth this result was never in doubt.
Ballygarvan now await the winners of Valley Rovers and Carrigaline who meet in Ballygarvan on Sunday at 11.30am.
Scorers
Ballygarvan: E O’Connor (2f), A White (3f, 145) 0-4 each; D Mackey 1-1; S Fenton 1-0; S Brady 0-2; Z Davidson 0-1.
Ballymartle: D O’Leary 0-6 (5f); R Deasy 1-0 (1 pen); R Cahalane, L O’Callaghan 0-1 each.
Ballygarvan: G White; P Ryan, Conor Mackey, S O’Donovan; S Fenton, M O’Mahony, Z Davidson; S Brady, J Fenton; D O’Mahony, C O’Regan, Callum Mackey; D Mackey, E O’Connor, N Dowd.
Subs: C Downey for E O’Connor (45), S Buckley for Callum Mackey (46), M Cussen for J Fenton (49), A Maloney for D O’Mahony (52), E Mackey for Conor Makey (52).
Ballymartle: C Barry; E Cummins, S Dorney, P Dorney; L Corry, E O’Leary, L O’Callaghan; F Desmond, C Lordan; F McCarthy, R Cahalane, R Deasy; P Cronin, N Crowley, D O’Leary.
Subs: E Deasy for P Cronin (ht), J Deasy for E Cummins (ht), S Cummins for F McCarthy (42), PR Cronin for C Lordan (56), M Higgins for E O’Leary (56).
Referee: K O’Sullivan (Valley Rovers).
