Clann Na nGael  1-09   Ballivor  0-09

Clann na nGael secured promotion to the Intermediate grade and a place in the Junior A final against Moylagh with a hard fought and impressive victory over close neighbours Ballivor.

A strongly fancied Ballivor team who were many peoples favourites to go the whole way looked to be justifying their favourites tag when they went into a five point to one lead in the first 20 minutes.  

Cian Swaine kicked Clann’s first point after 5 minutes to leave it a point apiece, but another 15 minutes passed before Paul Tuite kicked Clann’s second point.  In the meantime, Ballivor had taken control of the game and kicked 4 further points, with two of these excellent efforts from wide on the right.

The Clann na nGael men refocused and put in an very impressive final 15 minutes to wrestle control from Ballivor and refused to relinquish it for the remainder of the match.   Center Half forward Philip Garry led the drive as he kicked two points in quick succession to reduce the gap to one point after 23 minutes.  

The key moment in the game then occurred when the hard working Clann na nGael defence turned over procession and started a move which ended up with Diarmuid O’Donnachada clinically finishing the ball to the net on the 27th minute.   Midfielder Darragh Griffin  continued the Clann scoring by kicking over an excellent point with the outside of his boot, on the 30th minute to leave the score at 1-5 to 0-5 at half time.

The excellent football of the first half was difficult to maintain in the second half as heavy rain in the first 20 minutes made ball handling very difficult and resulted in handling errors on both sides.  Clann kicked over two further points from midfielders Darragh Griffin and Cian Swain and a further one from Philip Garry to move into a six point lead 10 minutes into the second half.

Ballivor responded by kicking two points as they maintained an attacking threat throughout the half. However the Clann’s defensive unit was working hard to make scores difficult to come by, with some excellent blocking by Jack Doherty, Carl Kelly and Darragh Swaine.

Clann kicked one further point from a free by goalkeeper Eoin Griffin 15 minutes into the half but were unable to add to the total despite having a number of scoring opportunities.  Ballivor’s goalkeeper made an excellent save from Tom Hanley’s shot which if scored would have gone a long way to alleviate the Clann nerves.

Ballivor kicked two further points and worked hard to try and orchestrate a goal, but the Clann defense were having none of it and held out for a 1-9 to 0-9 victory.

This was an excellent team performance from Clann na nGael with Darragh Griffin, Philip Garry, Jack Doherty and Eamonn O’Donnachada performing very well.

Clann na nGael:  E.Griffin (0-1),  R.Tuite,  J.Doherty,  C. Kelly,  D. O'Donnchadha (1-0),  J.Farrell,  R. McNamee,  D. Griffin (0-2), C. Swaine (0-2), T.Hanley,  P.Garry (0-3),  E.O'Donnchadha, P.Tuite (0-1),  T. Doyle,  M.Priest.

Subs:  D. Swaine (0-2) for P. Tuite,  C.Griffin for T. Doyle

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