Ballygarvan take it at the death

Ballygarvan 1-20 Tracton 0-21

JJ Hurley

A Dylan O’Connor goal from a line ball proved crucial in this local derby as Ballygarvan overcame Tracton in the Red FM Division 5HL at Minane Bridge.

The agony and the ecstasy as Ballygarven celebrate the late Dylan O'Connor goal and Tracton are pipped on the line in the RedFM Division 5Hl in Minane Bridge (Delores Spillane Kidney)

You could have mistaken this game for a championship encounter, as both sides went ‘at it’ from the throw-in.

However, with time up, the impressive Cian Quinn sent over a 65 to give his side a two-point lead, but the advantage was only momentary as O’Connor flashed a line ball to the Tracton net.

He added another point to his tally moments later as Ballygarvan broke Tracton hearts.

Indeed, the visitors were first to hit the front as they led by two points to one after five minutes, with Dylan O’Connor claiming his first score of the night as part of that brace.

With Tracton roaring back into the game, the Minane Bridge outfit led by 0-4 to 0-3, as Aaron Lyons gave them the lead on eight minutes.

An O’Connor equaliser provided only a short respite as Darragh O’Riordan (1) and Quinn (3) stretched their side’s advantage to four points by the 14th minute.

To their credit, Ballygarvan had cut the margin back to a single score on 18 minutes, as Niall Dowd (2) and O’Connor (1) landed the all-important scores.

As the sides swapped scores, it was Tracton who held a three-point advantage on 24 minutes as Michael O’Sullivan popped over his first score of the night to leave the score at 0-11 to 0-8.

From there to the short whistle, Ballygarvan narrowed the margin to 0-13 to 0-12, aided by two fine scores from Pearse O’Halloran.

The early exchanges of the second half saw Ray O’Halloran tie up the game before Quinn restored the advantage for Tracton.

As the game ebbed and flowed, Ballygarvan had reclaimed the initiative by the 42nd minute as they secured a three-point advantage, 0-18 to 0-15, which included a beauty of an individual score from Paddy Ryan.

Michael O’Sullivan almost cancelled out the visitors’ advantage with a goal effort, but Daniel Mackey was equal to the shot.

But efforts from Quinn and O’Sullivan left the bare minimum between the sides on 47 minutes.

In spite of the rally, Ballygarvan had O’Connor to thank as he gave his side a two-point advantage on 52 minutes.

Nevertheless, Tracton were not going away as Quinn hit four unanswered points to give the home side a 0-21 to 0-19 lead with time almost up.

Even so, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and O’Connor duly delivered that all-important goal and a point as time ticked away to secure a Ballygarvan victory.

It is eye on the ball for Darragh O'Riordan  in the RedFM Division 5Hl in Minane Bridge (Delores Spillane Kidney)

Scorers for Ballygarvan: D O’Connor 1-9 (2f), R O’Halloran 0-5, N Dowd 0-3, P O’Halloran, P Ryan and Conor Dowd (0-1 each).Tracton: C Quinn 0-15 (0-8f, 1-65f), D O’Riordan and M O’Sullivan (0-2 each), J Good and A Lyons (0-1 each).

Teams

Ballygarvan: D Mackey; P Ryan, T O’Sullivan, E Mackey; K Murphy, M Kennifick, C Mackey; D O’Mahony, C McIntyre; D O’Connor, P O’Halloran, E O’Connor; N Dowd, R O’Halloran, D Bouse. Sub: S O’Dowd.

Tracton: S O’Sullivan; C Breathnach, K Healy, J Kingston; D Good, J Good, J Lynch; R Sinclair, D O’Riordan; K Webb, M O’Sullivan, C Quinn; C McGuinness, A Lyons, D Flathery. Subs: J Kingston, R O’Donovan, E O’Donoghue.

Referee: Oisin Doyle (Bandon).