Round 1 (13/2/11): Goals win it for Dunderry
Two goals in the space of ten minutes during the second-half helped Dunderry recover from a five point deficit as they came away with the points after an exciting Division 2 A-League clash in Ballinlough on Sunday.
Ballinlough………………0-11
Dunderry………………..2-7
It may have been the first outing of the year but it didn’t take either team long to blow off the cob-webs as they served up a tough battle with plenty of good football. Points from Evan Stephens and TJ Garry got Dunderry off to a good start but a couple of pointed frees from Kevin Devine helped Ballinlough restore parity; 0-3 to 0-3 after ten minutes. Paul Govern then put Dunderry ahead but they started to struggle as the home side established a foot-hold at midfield; they hit four points in succession to lead 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time, indeed they could have been further ahead if efforts from Seamus Fagan and Cian Mallen had went the other side of the crossbar after they had found themselves in favorable positions close to goal.
Points from Simon Deevey and Colm Mallen put Ballinlough ahead; 0-9 to 0-4 early in the second-half and with Padraig Muldoon outstanding at full-back they looked to be good value for their lead, but a goal against the run of play in the 40th minute stifled their momentum; Andrew Coogan blasted to the net after he ran onto a long delivery which deceived the Ballinlough defence. The goal revitalised Dunderry and they upped their work rate significantly, their forwards tackled with intensity and they started to win more possession around the middle of the field. An unlikely turnaround was completed when TJ Garry pointed either side of a Paul Govern goal to leave them ahead, 2-6 to 0-9, with 11 minutes remaining.
Ballinlough’s five point lead had somehow turned into a three point deficit within the space of eleven minutes, but when Ken Rothwell and then Sean Geraghty pointed to leave the minimum between the teams with four minutes remaining they must have felt there was still time to rescue something from the match. However they failed to hit an equaliser and it was Dunderry substitute Ivan Mc Cormack that sealed the victory for his team with the last point of the game.
Ballinlough: K. Mallen, B. Smith, P. Muldoon, R. Farrell, J. Byrne, L. Maguire, R. Mc Guinness, S. Fagan (0-1), Cian Mallen (0-1), Tommy Mc Cullen (0-1), K. Devine (0-2f), Junior O’ Reilly, S. Deevey (0-1), K. Rothwell (0-3), Colm Mallen (0-1). Subs: Conor Briody for Mc Guinness, Mc Guinness for O’ Reilly, S. Byrne for Fagan and S. Geraghty (0-1) for Mc Cullen.
Ballinlough………………0-11
Dunderry………………..2-7
It may have been the first outing of the year but it didn’t take either team long to blow off the cob-webs as they served up a tough battle with plenty of good football. Points from Evan Stephens and TJ Garry got Dunderry off to a good start but a couple of pointed frees from Kevin Devine helped Ballinlough restore parity; 0-3 to 0-3 after ten minutes. Paul Govern then put Dunderry ahead but they started to struggle as the home side established a foot-hold at midfield; they hit four points in succession to lead 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time, indeed they could have been further ahead if efforts from Seamus Fagan and Cian Mallen had went the other side of the crossbar after they had found themselves in favorable positions close to goal.
Points from Simon Deevey and Colm Mallen put Ballinlough ahead; 0-9 to 0-4 early in the second-half and with Padraig Muldoon outstanding at full-back they looked to be good value for their lead, but a goal against the run of play in the 40th minute stifled their momentum; Andrew Coogan blasted to the net after he ran onto a long delivery which deceived the Ballinlough defence. The goal revitalised Dunderry and they upped their work rate significantly, their forwards tackled with intensity and they started to win more possession around the middle of the field. An unlikely turnaround was completed when TJ Garry pointed either side of a Paul Govern goal to leave them ahead, 2-6 to 0-9, with 11 minutes remaining.
Ballinlough’s five point lead had somehow turned into a three point deficit within the space of eleven minutes, but when Ken Rothwell and then Sean Geraghty pointed to leave the minimum between the teams with four minutes remaining they must have felt there was still time to rescue something from the match. However they failed to hit an equaliser and it was Dunderry substitute Ivan Mc Cormack that sealed the victory for his team with the last point of the game.
Ballinlough: K. Mallen, B. Smith, P. Muldoon, R. Farrell, J. Byrne, L. Maguire, R. Mc Guinness, S. Fagan (0-1), Cian Mallen (0-1), Tommy Mc Cullen (0-1), K. Devine (0-2f), Junior O’ Reilly, S. Deevey (0-1), K. Rothwell (0-3), Colm Mallen (0-1). Subs: Conor Briody for Mc Guinness, Mc Guinness for O’ Reilly, S. Byrne for Fagan and S. Geraghty (0-1) for Mc Cullen.