Ballivor 2-10 Oldcastle 0-10

Ballivor have booked their place in the Intermediate semi-final after brushing off the challenge off championship favourites Oldcastle and shocking everybody in the county…except themselves.

A big crowd descended on Trim at lunchtime on Sunday for what was predicted to be a mouth-watering affair. Both teams massively fancied themselves. Ballivor had battled through a very tough group with a comeback win over Castletown, an impressive victory over Longwood and a one-point defeat to Duleek. Oldcastle on the other hand, blitzed everyone who had previously stood between them and the knockout rounds and probably deservedly earned themselves the favourites tag for this fixture. Ballivor were also missing two key players on the day, in Keith Keoghan and Adam Gannon.

Referee Robert Purfield threw the ball in at 12pm to get the game underway. Ballivor had the wind advantage for the first half an hour while Oldcastle were playing against the elements into the town end. Ballivor put the wind to use early on and just thirty seconds into the game, Martin Healy swung over the first point of the day off his left boot.

The opening minutes of the game were hectic, as you would expect from these two teams with such a big prize on the line. Ballivor started the brighter of the two and ten minutes in found themselves three points to no score in the lead thanks to Martin Healy’s aforementioned point and brilliant points from play from David Raleigh and Kevin Mckeon. While Ballivor would have been pleased with their start, they would have been simultaneously disappointed that the margin wasn’t bigger with a number of attempts sailing wide or dropping short.

Oldcastle opened their account on the tenth minute with a point from a free. Brendan Mckeon replied with a free for Ballivor and then Oldcastle kicked two more points, one free and one from play to bring the margin back to the minimum. Scores were hard to come by, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Both teams defended ferociously, tackled and hit hard and won some massive turnovers. When the umpires at either end raised the white flag, everyone in attendance knew that the score had been hard-earned.

The big moment of the first half came in the 25th minute. A long-attempted point from Ballivor dropped short into the Oldcastle square. The north Meath men had the numbers back to deal with the situation while the only Ballivor player in the vicinity was Gary Sherrock. However, they didn’t deal with it and the ball fell to Gary who punched the ball goalwards and over the line despite the efforts of the Oldcastle defence to scramble it away.

An Oldcastle free was the only other score of the half as Ballivor went in three points ahead at the break.

Half Time: Ballivor 1-04 Oldcastle 0-04

The second half continued in the same vein with neither team giving each other an inch. It was pretty even, point for point, wide for wide. Nicky Potterton pointed for Ballivor which Oldcastle immediately cancelled out with a point of their own.

Five minutes into the second half, Oldcastle broke quickly and found a hole in the Ballivor defence. The game should have been level only for an outstanding save from Tosh Raleigh in the Ballivor nets. The referee brought play back for a foul in the build up and Oldcastle had to settle for a point.

Over the next 15 minutes the men in Maroon grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, outscoring the opponents by four points to one. Two from Brendan Mckeon including a huge point from play and two from Nicky Potterton who brought his second half tally up to three points.

With ten minutes of normal time left to play and a five-point lead, Ballivor dealt the killer blow. Oldcastle had pushed players up into the attack, but the superb Ballivor defence turned them over and broke quickly. Martin Healy, with a long kick pass found corner back Jamie Smyth who had continued his run forward unmarked. From there, Jamie along with Evan Fitzgerald, Nicky Potterton and Brendan Mckeon found themselves in a four on two situation. They clinically played the ball between each other before Evan Fitzgerald palmed the ball past the helpless Oldcastle goalkeeper.

Credit to Oldcastle, they didn’t lie down and replied with two points and then had a goal attempt hit the post that would have brought the game back to a single score. Ballivor knew that if they retreated, the chances would keep coming for Oldcastle, so they stepped out and met the challenge head on. With unbelievable heart, determination and some fresh legs from the bench, Ballivor weathered the Oldcastle onslaught and went into injury time with a five-point lead. By this time Oldcastle had been reduced to fourteen after a high tackle saw their centre-forward receive his second yellow card.

Brendan Mckeon slotted another free on the 34th minute to increase the lead and surely that was it. Oldcastle were given another opportunity to attack, they pumped the ball long and high into the Ballivor square and amidst the scramble an Oldcastle player was tripped, and a penalty awarded. It was probably too late for a comeback to be mounted anyway but that didn’t matter to Tosh Raleigh who was insistent on keeping his clean sheet stain-free. The penalty was hit with power to the goalkeepers left but he predicted it correctly and strongly punched the ball to safety.

The full-time whistle went, and the crowd erupted. It’s Ballivor’s biggest win since the 2020 junior title and a long-time since they’d made it this far into the Intermediate championship.

Meath Hill now stand in the way of an Intermediate final in what is sure to be a thrilling semi-final between to sided who have got to know each other well over the past few years.

Ballivor scorers: Brendan McKeon 0-4 (3f) Nicky Potterton 0-3 Evan Fitzgerald 1-0 Garry Sherrock 1-0 Kevin McKeon 0-1 David Raleigh 0-1 Martin Healy 0-1

Ballivor Team: Thomas Raleigh, Jamie Smyth, Stefan Connolly, Harry Smyth, David Conneely, Gary Sherrock, Martin Healy, Brian O’Halloran, Evan Fitzgerald, David Raleigh, Brendan McKeon, Patrick Conneely, Killian Canavan, Nicholas Potterton, Kevin McKeon

Subs Used: Mark Healy, Jacob Ryan, Padraig Geoghegan

 

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