Juniors beat Ballyfore in Championship

Post date: Jul 10, 2011 1:21:13 PM

Edenderry Juniors recorded their first win in the 2011 Junior championship with a nine point beating of neighbours Ballyfore.

Ballyfore started the brightest and after just fifty seconds Shane Forde pointed and on seven minutes Ballyfore stretched their lead when Kevin Coffey pointed his first of the day. It took fourteen minutes for the reds to register their first score of the game and it came through midfielder Pat Moloney after some great work from Sean Doyle & Sean Moriarty. The reds levelled three minutes later after Pat Moloney turned provider and set up Dean Cummins to equalise. Edenderry never lost their lead from this moment on and went in front when John Gorman and Dan Ryan combined and the latter scored his first of the game. With the clock ticking into injury time, Dean Cummins and Dan Ryan worked well and eventually the ball made its way into big Brendan McCabe who shot the ball home to the back of the net to give Edenderry a four point lead at the interval.

The second half started and again it was Ballyfore who were out of the traps first when Kevin Coffey pointed a free after two minutes. Edenderry hit back on the fifth minute when Sean Doyle converted a free that he won himself. Shane Forde hit his second of the game on seven minutes but again Sean Doyle cancelled out the score. Kevin Coffey and Dan Ryan traded points and after twelve minutes the score-line read 1-6 0-5. Sean Moriarty won a poor kick-out and laid the ball off to Sean Doyle who popped over his third point of the game. There was an eight minute spell that followed when neither side could manage a score but on the twentieth minute that all changed when a Padraig Foy long ball over the top found Dean Cummins, now operating at full forward. Cummins rose highest and caught the ball before firing it to the back of the net to give the reds an eight point lead. Just three minutes later the exact same thing occurred and it was Padraig Foy again driving a long high ball in to Dean Cummins who once again finished to the back of the net. John Gorman pointed for the reds two minutes later but it was quickly cancelled out by a Shane Forde point. Ballyfore won a free on the fourteen yard line and it was Kevin Coffey who stepped up and drove the ball at the Edenderry goal-line to which it took a deflection and crossed the line for a goal for Ballyfore. Shane Forde won a similar free just two minutes later but his effort went over the bar for a point. Two late scores for Edenderry courtesy of John Gorman and Sean Moriarty gave the reds a nine point cushion and the valuable two points.

On the day Edenderry deserved their win and it was the goals that proved vital. Cormac Hurley in the goals for Edenderry pulled off a great save in the goals to keep Edenderry in the lead while the full back line of Padriag Foy, Colm Cummins and Aaron O’Connell was excellent. The pace of Sean Moriarty, Sean Doyle and Dean Cummins was a constant thorn for the Ballyfore defence. The game was well refereed by Con Costello.

Edenderry will be thrilled with the win due to so many players been absent for a variety of reasons. Colin McNamara, Joe Murphy, Stephen Murphy, Colin Dunne, Adrian Bryans, Cian Lawton, Gary Blong, Johnny Blong and David Farrelly were all unavailable so the win was all the more impressive.

Referee: Con Costello

Man of the Match: Dean Cummins(2-1)

Team Sheet:

Cormac Hurley, Padraig Foy, Colm Cummins, Aaron O'Connell, Andrew Forde, Peter O'Neill, Stephen Abbott, Shane Connell, Pat Moloney(0-1), John Gorman(0-2), Dean Cummins(2-1), Dan Ryan(0-2), Sean Moriarty(0-1), Brendan "Thierry" McCabe(1-0), Sean Doyle(0-3)

Subs: Glen Dolan for Brendan McCabe