Senior Football USFL

Loup 0.13  -  0.6 Ballyholland

4th Mar 2007

On one of the dirtiest, windiest March days that you're ever likely to encounter, Ballyholland ultimately fell a bit short of their distinguished Derry hosts.

But certainly not by as much as the seven point margin would suggest. The tenacious, powerful Loup side thoroughly dominated the opening quarter, and also blew a serious hole in the Harps rearguard during a final ten minutes in which they hit five unanswered scores, but in the times between there wasn't a whole lot to pick between the sides.

Indeed, in the process of clawing the deficit back to just a pair, for much of the second half Ballyholland looked the better of the teams. And let's not forget that it was an extremely young, inexperienced Harps team who took to the field, boasting 27 year old Mark O'Hare - the only remaining forward of those that faced Loup this time last year - as its elder statesman for the day.

It took a while to weather the storm - the metaphorical one that is, not the actual one. Loup had the advantage of the wind, and right from the off were intent on using it to bring their dangerous full-forward line into play. All three made their mark on the game, with target man Shane McFlynn particularly impressive on his way to a five point individual salvo.

At the quarter-hour mark, the home side had tallied five unanswered points. They weren't dominating midfield, but were thoroughly dominating the game through their sharpness of mind and especially in their ability in the tackle. Anytime a Ballyholland man laid hands on the ball, if he needed a single second to look around, it proved too long.

But as the half wore on, they began to move the ball more quickly and their own full-forward line was finally relieved of some of their boredom. Two well-taken frees from Conor Sands got Ballyholland on the scoreboard and although they were cancelled out before the half was up, by the time that whistle arrived, Harps knew they were capable of giving their hosts a game.

The Derry men pushed their lead out to six shortly after the interval, but for almost twenty minutes after that they were kept principally on the back foot.

Strong players James Patterson, Paddy McAnulty and Damian McCrink each filled a prominent role in the revival, but more striking was the lead role taken by young players like Tony Havern, Anton Haughey and Conor Sands. As has been the norm so far this season though, the excellent Joe Murphy stood out a little bit more, really carrying the game to the opposition.

Sands took his side back into the game with three consecutive placed balls, including a fine '45, and just afterwards Murphy picked off a great score from distance following good work by Havern and McCrink.

In between all that, the Loup keeper was called upon to make a couple of decent stops, one from O'Hare, the other from Paudie McKernan.

This left us with just six or seven minutes on the clock, and a game hanging in the balance. By the time there was one or two minutes left, it was all over.

For those five minutes Loup simply owned the ball, and used it devastatingly well - cutting a hole up the middle of Ballyholland's defence at will, producing easy shooting opportunities as a result. And although their ability to tackle supremely well really was a striking feature of the game, it was this direct, incisive, cutting edge that proved to be the real difference between the sides.

Ballyholland looked capable of matching their opponents in many areas, but never really looked capable of taking them apart.

That's something to work on before Clann na Banna on April 13th then!

Player of the Match: Joe Murphy

Ballyholland Team: K Murphy; J Murphy (0-1), C Murtagh, E Campbell; P McAnulty, D McCrink, A Haughey; J Patterson, P McKernan; G McAteer, D Campbell, C Sands (0-5f); M O?Hare, K Dunne, T Havern. Subs used: C McAteer, L Madden, R Matthews, S Fitzpatrick, S McClelland.

Opponents Team: n/a

Referee: n/a

Match Report by: Anthony

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