Ballymartle 2-18 Inniscarra 0-18
JJ Hurley
Cillian Lordan's second-half brace of goals proved decisive as Ballymartle defeated Inniscarra in the Red FM Hurling League Division Three clash in Riverstick on Monday night.
While Inniscarra may have fancied their chances to turn around the half-time deficit of four points playing with the wind, two Ballymartle goals on 35 and 50 minutes put pay to that idea.
Ballymartle took the early lead as Darren McCarthy opened their account.
It was followed moments later with Jack Dwyer doubling their tally.
The visitors got off the mark as Andrew McCarthy fired over.
With Ballymartle taking advantage of the breeze, Ryan Deasy had his team ahead before Shane O'Mahony and Joe Enright tied the score up on nine minutes.
Ballymartle pushed on, with four unanswered points from Ken O'Callaghan, Cillian Lordan (2) and a long-range free from the Ballymartle keeper, Don O' Leary, giving them a seven-point to three-point lead on 19 minutes.
David O'Keeffe narrowed the score with a point, but McCarthy, who was deadly from the placed ball added two more points to his side's score.
An Andrew McCarthy rocket was somehow blocked by the Ballymartle defence on 25 minutes, with the resulting rebound driven over the bar by Conrad Desmond.
A free apiece from McCarthy and Enright resulted in the home side leading at the break by 10 points to 6.
McCarthy left off where he finished the first half with a 65 in the opening minutes of the second 30, as Desmond found the target for the visitors.
Further exchanges from McCarthy and Enright were followed by a strong run by Brian Corry, who found Lordan and he lashed the sliotar past the Inniscarra netminder on 35 minutes.
Both Enright from the placed ball and McCarthy were making inroads into the Ballymartle lead.
However, McCarthy was not allowing the visitors to narrow the margin too much, as he continued to find the target.
With the score at 1-15 to 0-14 points after 49 minutes, it looked like Inniscarra could close the gap, but John McCarthy fed Lordan on 50 minutes, and he made no mistake when the number 13 pulled the trigger for his second goal.
From there to finish, John McCarthy, Luke O' Callaghan and McCarthy increased Ballymartle's tally as Enright (3) and Desmond kept their side in touch, but not enough to deny Ballymartle the victory
Scorers
Ballymartle: D McCarthy 0-10 (4f 1 65), C Lordan 2-02, J McCarthy 0-02, R Deasy, L O' Callaghan, K O'Callaghan and D O' Leary (F) (0-01 each).
Inniscarra: J Enright 0-10 (10f), C Desmond, A McCarthy 0-03 each, D O' Keeffe, S O'Mahony (0-01 each)
Ballymartle: D O'Leary; C Coleman, TJ Murphy, E Cummins; R Deasy, J Dwyer, S Cummins; F Desmond, D Desmond; R Callanan, K O' Callaghan, D McCarthy; C Lordan, J McCarthy, L O'Callaghan. Subs D Costello for D Desmond (inj), B Corry for D Costello.
Inniscarra: J O'Keeffe, B O'Mahony, D Keane, J O'Sullivan; L Ryan, C O'Leary, C Lombard; S O' Mahony, J Enright; A McCarthy, M Nagle, Sean Quinlivan; D O'Keeffe, C Lynch, C Desmond. Subs Cameron Lynch for D O'Keeffe (inj), M Lenihan for J O'Sullivan, Pa Holland for S Quinlivan, G Roache for D O'Keeffe, S Ahern for C Lombard, Shane Buckley for Andrew McCarthy.
Referee Brian Coniry Crosshaven
A good night at the office for Ballymartle
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