Arva 2-11
Ballymachugh 0-8

by Shane Corrigan
at Kingspan Breffni Park

Arva are junior football champions for the first time in 21 years after downing Ballymachugh with a splendid display this evening at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Ciaran Brady's team completely blitzed their opponents in the first-half and never looked back once Brian Ellis' penalty hit the net in the 24th minute, banishing the ghosts from last year when they lost out on the title to Kill Shamrocks.

The fact that Ballymachugh only scored 0-1 after half an hour certainly didn't bode well for Stephen Baxter's side but, to their credit, they made a marked improvement in the second-half. However, any notion of them catching Arva was far-fetched as they simply had too much firepower to let a 10-point lead slip from their grasp.

Alan Barry's 41st minute goal ensured of that, as did James Morris' 'Man of the Match' performance at full-back, and the men from Michael Cully Park can now look forward to plying their trade in the intermediate ranks in 2015.

Liam Buchannon had Ballymachugh's first and only score in the first-half after three minutes when he curled over from the right but from the sixth minute onwards their opponents took over for the remainder of the half.

After ripping through Ballymachugh's centre, Jonathan McCabe had Arva up and running with his first white flag and some patient build up play from their forwards, who won back plenty of ball in their own half over the hour, saw McCabe put them into their first lead after 10 minutes.

The next 10 minutes would see Conal Sheridan cushion the advantage for the town side with three points on the trot, two of them frees, and when Cian Sheridan offloaded to Peter Morris for a simple tap over the writing was definitely on the wall.

That was certainly the case once Kevin Bouchier pulled off some brave work to win loose possession in Ballymachugh's square and got himself axed down for referee Ollie Donohoe to signal with horizontal arms. Brian Ellis slotted the penalty home with expertise, leaving Baxter's men with a mountain to climb.

Fergal McGlade and Conal Sheridan (free) kept the good times rolling for Arva into half-time, with the score-line lopsided at 1-8 to 0-1, as things started to boil over, forcing Donohoe to dish out the yellow cards and then a black to Ballymachugh corner-back Finbar Sheridan just before the short whistle.

The Hughs came out a bit more positive in their approach for the second-half and quadrupled their tally in the first nine minutes with points from Aodhain Kiernan, James Kiernan (free) and Richie Fitzsimons (2).

The majority of their good work was wiped out in an instant though when Bouchier spotted a gap in behind the Ballymachugh full-back line and his perfect pass saw Barry get their first before Paddy Baxter to palm to the net, all but nailing the coffin.

Fitzsimons (free) and Barry traded the next two scores as the game entered its final 10 minutes but, in truth, Ballymachugh were out of contention barring something miraculous as Arva kept the scores ticking over via their reliable duo of Conal Sheridan and McCabe, after a gem from Bouchier, to send the Sean Leddy Cup to the Longford border for the first time since 1993.

Arva: Richard Keith; Cormac McCabe, James Morris, Shane Finnegan; Tomas Brady, Ciaran Brady, Paul Bouchier; Fergal McGlade (0-1), Cian Sheridan; Alan Barry (1-1), Kevin Bouchier (0-1), Peter Morris (0-1); Brian Ellis (1-0), Jonathan McCabe (0-3), Conal Sheridan (0-4, 3f). Subs: Stephen Ellis for C Brady (47mins, b/c), Gavin Doyle for A Barry (49), Brian Fitzpatrick for Cian Sheridan (60), Conor McEntee for B Ellis (60).

Ballymachugh: Paddy Baxter; Finbar Sheridan, Micheál Halton, Brendan McLarney; Christopher Rooney, Anthony Baxter, Darragh Kiernan; Aodhain Kiernan (0-1), Liam Buchannon (0-1); Barry Kiernan, Killian Smith, Alan Donohoe; James Kiernan (0-3, 2f), Richie Fitzsimons (0-3, 2f), Mark Kiernan. Subs: John Fox for F Sheridan (30mins, b/c), James H Fitzsimons for A Donohoe(49), Padraig Galligan for B Kiernan (51), Stephen Harten for M Kiernan (58).

Ref: Ollie Donohoe (Knockbride)

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