Championship redemption for Loughinisland

26 August 2015

LOUGHINISLAND lit up a gloomy, overcast Saturday afternoon in Castlewellan with an electrifying display of refreshing, attacking football against the championship favourites.

Ballymartin, who were totally outplayed over the 60 minutes, fell to their first defeat of the season, but maybe they were just keeping their powder dry for the latter stages of the competition as they now get a second bite of the cherry.

Both sides started positively, but it was Loughinisland who opened the scoring through the majestic Dan Gordon in the fifth minute.

Ballymartin answered this with two points of their own from Ryan O’Hare and Ross Cunningham, but with seven minutes gone Rory Mason, who gave Ballymartin a torrid time with his pace and vision, brought the sides level with a converted free.

A Ciaran O’Hare free helped Ballymartin regain the lead, but that was really as good as it got for Hugh Trainor’s side as Loughinisland went nap.

Loughinisland’s runs from deep were cutting swathes through the Ballymartin defence, but they wasted a few glorious scoring opportunities before two Rory Mason frees gave the Blues a 0-4 to 0-3 lead with 13 minutes gone, a lead they would not relinquish.

With 18 minutes gone a sweeping Loughinisland move ended with John McCarthy, who was a revelation in a roaming role on his comeback from a long injury, setting up Conor Megoran for a point to give the Blues a 0-5 to 0-3 lead. McCarthy tagged on a point of his own after a good run, but Ballymartin stayed in touch with a well worked score from Owen Collins in the 22nd minute.

Loughinisland continued to be quite wasteful in the final third as the game moved up another gear, but two more points from Rory Mason gave his side a 0-8 to 0-4 lead by the 29th minute.

Ballymartin needed something before the break and it came from Ciaran O’Hare, who converted a free to leave three points between the sides in a tense affair.

The second half was barely a matter of seconds old when Rory Mason pointed after a surging run and pass from Gordon. A Ciaran O’Hare free kept Ballymartin ticking over, but this was to be their last score of the game.

Rory Mason continued to punish any defensive lapses when he converted yet another free to give Loughinisland a 0-10 to 0-6 lead and with 34 minutes gone Loughinisland grabbed the goal their football deserved. Gordon, who got stronger and stronger as the game went on, picked out Stefan Mason after another surge.

The young target man unselfishly laid the ball off to Conor Megoran and he promptly beat Patrick Greene all ends up, 1-10 to 0-6.

There was no way back for Ballymartin now and with 37 minutes gone Rory Mason extended Loughinisland’s lead to eight points.

Ballymartin seemed to give up the ghost and the points flowed from Loughinisland with Aaron McClements, McCarthy, Megoran (2) and Stefan Mason giving them a 1-16 to 0-6 lead.

Loughinisland finished the game off in style and further points from Damhan O’Toole and two frees from man of the match Rory Mason completed a job well done.

Ballymartin may have been comprehensively beaten in this encounter, but don’t rule them out of completing a league and championship double just yet.

Loughinisland: K Gordon, M Cochrane, P Megoran, R Nixon, M Doran, D Gordon (0-1), P Digney, D O’Toole (0-1), P McKenny, R Mason (0-10), C Megoran (1-3), M Brannigan, S Mason (0-1), A McClements (0-1), J McCarthy (0-2). Subs: S Cochrane for Doran, R Deegan for Mckenny, C O’Reilly for Brannigan, P Martin for M Cochrane, G. Johnson for S Mason.

Ballymartin: P Greene, M Phillips, M Whelan, Paul Fitzpatrick, O Collins (0-1), A Doran, N Kerr, M Cunningham, Peter Fitzpatrick, R Cunningham (0-1), C O’Hare (0-3), S Hughes, R Phillips, C Doyle, R O’Hare (0-1). Subs: J Cranston for Phillips, A Crawford for Paul Fitzpatrick, R McCulla for Cunningham, C Cunningham for Kerr (black card).

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