Ballynagross miss the boat but stay clear

14 January 2015

MOURNE Rovers have emerged from the pack in recent weeks as serious title contenders.

This win over the league leaders and last week's victory over defending champions Castlewellan have propelled the Mourne raiders into second place in the table and perfectly placed to pounce.

Rovers, who finished the game with nine men, are eight points behind Ballynagross, but have played three games less, while Castlewellan, who have five games in hand, are 11 points behind the leaders.

Ballynagross looked the part early on as they took the game to their visitors, but efforts from Gavin Burns and Ritchie Fryer were both badly off target.

Rovers proved that little bit more efficient and two goals in three minutes had them in dream land. With nine minutes gone Neil Doran bombed forward and when his run was only halted in the box, Damian Sherry was on hand to beat Conor McAllister all ends up with a perfect finish.

Three minutes later Sean McManus made it 2-0 after yet another assist from the classy Neil Doran and Ballynagross were left with a mountain to climb.

Kevin Gracey let fly from a free kick, but was off target before a Jason Dagens shot was saved by Brendan McVeigh. These efforts were as good as it got for Ballynagross as Ruari Doran, Ciaran O'Hare, who looks ideally suited to move alongside Doran in the centre of defence and Mark Trimble defended resolutely.

The home side were seeing plenty of the ball, but they flattered to deceive at times. On the three occasions they did get in behind the Rovers defence, Dagens shot tamely at McVeigh, Matthew Taggart lost possession and Matthew McGarrity headed over.

Ballynagross changed their tactics at the start of the second half and played the ball a lot quicker into Caolan Boyd and Dagens, but Ruari Doran and Ciaran O'Hare snuffed any danger out.

Fryer did manage to get in behind O'Hare in the 52nd minute when he latched onto a hopeful punt from Aaron Beattie, but he fired over from a great position.

Eleven minutes later another long ball from Beattie fell kindly for Taggart, but he too blazed over the top.

Rovers'4-5-1 formation certainly frustrated Ballynagross as Fryer was bottled up by Colly Burden, Neil Doran and McManus and he, like most of the Ballynagross players, saw the game largely pass him by. <\!p>

The game, which was quite tasty at times, finally exploded in the 67th minute when Ryan Clerkin retaliated to a bad foul on him by Ciaran McGarrity.

However, much to Rovers annoyance, Clerkin was red carded with McGaritty escaping with a yellow card. Things got even worse for Rovers when Connaire Harrison, who shipped some heavy tackles throughout the game, was also red carded after he prevented Ballynagross taking a quick free kick, but it seemed as if the ball was kicked at him rather than him getting in the way.

There is no doubt that Ballynagross were lucky to finish the game with 11 players as they certainly had a few agent provocateurs in their midst and the referee would have needed eyes in the back of his head to see all that was going on.

Ballynagross: C. McAllister, M. Burns, C. McGarrity, A. Beattie, K. Gracey, M. McGarrity, M. Taggart, R. Fryer, C. Boyd, J. Dagens, G. Burns. Subs: R. Burns, D. McCavera, M. Rooney.

Mourne Rovers: B. McVeigh, C. O'Hare, M. Trimble, R. Clarke, R. Doran, N. Doran, C. Burden, R. Clerkin, D. Sherry, S. McManus, C. Harrison. Subs: M. Hughes, M. Ireland, R. Kelly.

Ballynagross 0

Mourne Rovers 2

Newcastle League Premier Division

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