Ballygarvan brace makes the difference

( JJ Hurley)

Ballygarvan. 3-13    Shamrock 1-13

Two first half Ballygarvan goals proved crucial as the SE champions pushed past Shamrocks in the Procure.ie SE Junior A Football Championship at Crosshaven on Friday night.

The star of the show was the Ballygarvan inside danger man, Daniel Mackey, who finished the game with an impressive tally of 2-8.

Credit to Shamrocks, who despite suffering two first half body blows never threw in the towel, with Cian Lynch leading the line superbly over the hour.

Ballygarvan started in a whirlwind fashion, as Daniel Mackey had a goal and a point in the opening minutes.

They increased their score to 1-2 after 4 minutes as Piaras O'Halloran found the target and Shamrocks registered their first score on seven minutes as Seanan Collins fired over.

Mackey was on target moments later, as he secured his second point as the lower harbour outfit reduced the deficit - with a Cian Lynch point.

However, the gap widened significantly on 12 minutes as Mackey secured his second goal

To their credit Shamrocks stuck to their task and Lynch was rewarded with a point.

A series of scores from both sides, including a beauty from Shane Buckley on 18 minutes left the score at 2-5  to 0-4.

From there to the break, Ballygarvan outscored their opponents by five points to two, as Mackey accounted for four of his team's total but it could have been far worse had Chris Corkery not produced a super save from Shane Buckley to leave the halftime score at 2-10 to 0-6.

It took five minutes for the first score of the second half to arrive, as Mackey obliged and he followed up two minutes later with a second score as Shane Buckley added a third on 40 minutes.

Shamrocks then hit something of a purple patch as Lynch (2) and Cillian Hayes struck for three unanswered points as they trailed by 2-13 to 0-10 on 51 minutes.

A third well-taken goal from Cillian O’Regan looked to have killed off the contest but Shamrocks were refusing to go away as  David Herlihy sent over a two pointer

The mini revival continued when Dylan O’Flaherty  got in for a goal, after the Ballygarvan goal keeper, Conor Fitzgerald, failed to deal with a looping Ray Twomey shot.

Sam Foy narrowed the margins even further with a point but Shamrocks ran out of road as Ballygarvan took the all-important points, on a night when Cork’s Sean Brady, Evan O’ Connor and Kevin Lyons were all absent.

Scorers for Ballygarvan D Mackey 2-8 (1 2ptf) S Buckley 0-4, Piaras O’Halloran 0-1.   

Shamrocks C Lynch 0-6 (3f, 1 2ptf), Dylan O’ Flaherty 1-0, D Herlihy 0-2 (1pt), C Hayes (1F) C Grady, Seanan Collins, S Fay (0-1 each).

Teams:

Ballygarvan: C Fitzgerald; P Ryan, E Mackey, A Dunne; D O’Mahony; S O’Donovan, Z Davidson; C O’ Leary, C O’Regan; M O’Mahony, P O’Halloran, D Mackey; C Mackey, S Buckley, N O’Dowd. Subs M Cussen for C O’Leary (49).

Shamrocks; C Corkery; G Ronayne, C Kidney, K May; N Hayes, A O’Grady, C O’Grady; D Herlihy, F Herlihy; C Hayes, S Collins, S Foy; J Bartlett, M Jordan, M Jordan. Subs R Twomey for K May, D Flaherty for M Jordan (both half time). S Downey for C Grady,  R Barrett for S Collins and B O’ Mahony for J Bartlett, (All 55m)

Referee Kevin O’Sullivan, Valley Rovers

Shamrock's Andrew O'Grady in hot pursuit of Ballygarvan's Cillian O'Regan as Paddy Ryan looks on in the Procure.ie  South East Junior A Football Championship in Crosshaven on Friday night (photo Delores Kidney)