Juniors v Ballintubber – Match Report
Ballintubber B 1-9 Davitts B 1-5.
Davitts very youthful junior team suffered their first taste of defeat this year in Clogher on Saturday evening. Most present at this game would agree the result doesn’t accurately reflect what happened over the course of the match. With the game already gone past the two minutes injury time that the referee was allotting, Davitts were leading by 1-4 to 0-6. Unfortunately for Davitts (and to the delight of the home crowd) the ref decided to play on for another six minutes. Ballintubber, to be fair to them, played to the final whistle, and when it finally did come, were happy to accept the two league points.
Davitts had led by 1-2 to 0-3 at half time although playing against the wind in the first half. It has to be said that both team’s forwards were guilty of some poor shooting in that period although Darren Connolly would not fall into that category, having accounted for all of Davitts first half tally.
Davitts appeared to be in control for most of the second half but the dismissal of Carlos O Gara and a serious looking facial injury to Michael Ronayne seemed to unsettle them. After three minutes of injury time Ballintubber equalised, to the delight of their crowd and management. They were on top at this stage and a draw seemed a fair result. In the ensuing five minutes of “added on time” they took the lead, Davitts equalised with a tremendous Thomas Waldron point, Ballintubber got another point and finished the game off with a goal in the eighth minute of injury time, the last play of the game.
This game will be a good lesson for the Davitts team. Ballintubber were more streetwise and rightly grabbed the game at the finish when the chance came to them. Only their most biased supporters will suggest though that they were not very lucky to win.
Davitts had tremendous performances from all of the team and it would be wrong to single out any individuals in a very encouraging display.
Davitts team: David Mitchell, William Freeley, Michael Ronayne, Donal Ronayne, Mark Ronayne, James Cummins, Laurence Daly, Tommy Mitchell (0-1), Michael Waldron, Andrew Peters, Seamus Roche (0-1), Carlos O Gara, Darren Connolly (1-2), Clive Hennigan, Richie Kilkenny. Subs used: Cathal Higgins, Thomas Waldron (0-1).
