Senior Football ACFL II

D Cross 1.4  -  0.8 Ballyholland

16th Apr 2007

After conceding a goal as early as 10 seconds in, and then in struggling to break down a stubborn home defence thereafter, the Harps were mightily relieved to leave the home of Division II newbies Darragh Cross with two points in the bag on Monday night.

Not that it was a lucky win. The Harps were extremely committed and on the balance of things just about shaded it, as reflected in the scoreline.

Darragh were fit, well-organised and combative, especially in defence, but aside from being caught napping from the throw-in, the Harps defence towered over all others as the outstanding unit on the field, and that’s were the victory was formed.

That early goal couldn’t have come earlier. From the throw-in, Tom McMahon delivered the ball inside and the next pass found Marcus Miskelly, inside his man. Darragh’s target man made no mistake, finishing high into the roof of the net.

Miskelly had the look of someone who was out to enjoy himself. This prompted the immediate switch of Damien Campbell to full-back and suffice to say, although there were still 59 minutes to play, he never got the same space again.

Ballyholland fought back hard and dominated the proceeding exchanges, but could not find a score. It was some 10 minutes, three wides and two rebounds before they opened their scoring, courtesy of a short Ronan Murtagh free, but that was cancelled out immediately afterwards when Miskelly finished after Harps failed too work the ball out of defence.

Thereafter it settled into an end-to-end affair. Darragh’s huge pitch meant that players always looked available, but tenacious defending on both sides meant clearcut chances were few and far between. Opportunities were missed, but only one bad free from Darragh could have been could glaring

A free from Aidy McAteer got one back and shortly before the whistle, wee Robbie Quinn rose highest in the square to claim the ball and apply the finish.

This left a solitary point in at the interval.

Further switches from the Harps saw Mattie Shields and Collie Barry enter the fray after the interval, and the veteran Shields wasted no time making an impact, arcing over a fine angled score to give his side the lead – Ronan Murtagh having tied things up with a free almost from the restart.

Darragh fought back with a well-taken effort from their corner forward, but by the quarter-hour mark another free from Murtagh, followed by the best point of the night from Joe Murphy – revelling in the space that came from being dragged out the field by Darragh’s tactic of playing an extra defender – meant Harps were a pair ahead and looked to be cruising home.

In time honoured Ballyholland fashion though, that’s just when the visitors fell into their worst spell of the match.

Full credit to the St Mochai’s men, they chased, harried and fought as hard as any manager could hope of their team, and it forced a collective dip in confidence from their opponents.

But for all their endeavour, their only return was a short free from Miskelly. The Harps defence, superbly marshalled by Campbell and McCrink, just wasn’t offering any change.

Tony Havern, who travelled all the way from Dublin to appear as a late substitute, hadn’t the same problem at the other end, tagging on a valuable insurance score as we entered the closing minutes.

A late free from their corner-forward – atoning for some poor earlier misses - buoyed the home side, but Harps snaffled the restart and Shields, Murtagh and Paul Murphy, in particular, showed great experience and composure to play out the final moments in their team’s favour.

On reflection it definitely wasn’t vintage Harps. But then again, for the most part they weren’t allowed to be. Darragh had numbers in defence who knew what they were doing, and their centre-half in particular showed excellent discipline and awareness to curtail the threat of Murtagh. With another scoring forward to take pressure of Marcus Miskelly they would pose a serious threat to anyone in this division.

Yet, Harps have lost games like these before, and played much, much worse than this before. You simply can’t take anything away from a defence that conceded just a goal and a point from play.

Their other sectors can improve, and will improve.

But, with the two relegated teams up next, and probably our biggest two rivals in the game to boot, up next let’s hope that improvement comes soon.

Player of the Match: Joe Murphy

Ballyholland Team: K Murphy; J Murphy (0-1), A Haughey, C Murtagh, P McAnulty, D McCrink, D Campbell; J Patterson, P Murphy; E Campbell, R Murtagh (0-3f), P McKernan; R Quinn (0-1), C Sands, A McAteer (0-1f). Subs used: C Barry, M Shields (0-1), T Havern (0-1), G McAteer.

Opponents Team: n/a

Referee: n/a

Match Report by: Anthony

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