PHOTO: Clonard's Brian O'Reilly making it difficult for Ballivor's Brendan McKeown.

County 'A' League Division 4

Clonard 0-13 Ballivor 0-13

Clonard welcomed Ballivor in this local derby clash on a warm but overcast first Sunday morning of July. There are strong connections between both clubs, with many opposing players on both sides plying their hurling skills together with great success in Killyon, and Clonard’s club chairman Joe Gannon having his grandson Adam togged out at centre forward with Ballivor.

Both sides were without many regulars, as was obvious from the lack of substitutes, with only two turned out on both sides. As an Intermediate team, Ballivor unusually compete in division 4 on a regular basis, and seem to suffer more than most from the hurling involvement of their many dual players. Clonard were also short, with four of the starting line-up unavailable from Wednesday night’s fine championship win over Cortown.

Ballivor made the first impact on the scoreboard but Jason Moore got Clonard off the mark, showing no ill-effects from Wednesday’s physical encounters with many of the Cortown defenders. Both sides swapped points during the first quarter as Gary Raleigh registered from a free and Chris Doyle made a fine run from half back to receive the ball back after continuing his run to point from the 21-yard line.

The half continued in similar fashion with both sides responding to the opposition going in-front as the lead changed hands on several occasions. Young corner back Brian O’Reilly was showing his usual excellent reading of the game as he got in front to win ball on many occasions, and was unlucky not to add a rare score of his own when he found himself in space to hit narrowly wide after 19 minutes. Ballivor did manage to stretch the lead to two points shortly before the interval but Eoin Connolly brought it back to the minimum with his effort, and become the second Clonard defender on the scoresheet. The half time score showed, Clonard 0-6 Ballivor 0-7.

Two minutes in to the second half Clonard were level as Eoin Treacy pointed from play but once again Ballivor responded as they showed no intentions of being beaten by their Junior neighbours. Paul Sheridan equalised matters once more as he hit over a ’45 with plenty of spare. Sheridan made another important contribution a few minutes later when he had to be alert to save from a tight angle when a Ballivor effort came back off the post.

As the half grew-on Ballivor opened a two-point gap again but Clonard were not going to lie down, in what was turning out to be a great game of football. Ryan Raleigh put his name on the scoresheet with 2 pointed efforts and a couple of minutes later Jason Moore added his third point of the day to level matters for what seemed the umpteenth time. And then with just three minutes left to play, Gary Raleigh scored his first effort from play, adding to his three earlier efforts from placed balls, and Clonard were ahead.

Ballivor heads didn’t drop and almost expectedly they equalised as injury time loomed. However, there was still time for more drama as Clonard attacked again and Kenneth Darby looked for the winner only to skew wide. Immediately Ballivor went down the opposite end and their attack yielded a long distance free 55 yards out, and they summoned veteran keeper Ray McKeown to kick for victory, but his effort was short and collected by a Clonard corner back, and the referee blew for full time, Clonard 0-13 Ballivor 0-13.

Both teams made their short trip home, along with the supporters in attendance, who were delighted they came out to view a very entertaining game of football between two very committed teams. The fair result leaves both teams in mid-table and most likely they will meet again in Division 4 next year, but if drawn in Clonard it will be in very different and fine surroundings of St. Finian’s Park, which is ready for action in the coming weeks.

TEAM: 1.Paul Sheridan (0-1 ’45) 2.Brian O’Reilly. 3.Paddy Daly 4. Stephen Connolly 5.Eoghan Connolly (0-1) 6.Ger Foley 7.Chris Doyle (0-1) 8.Ian Campbell 9. Jason Dowdall 10.Jason Moore (0-3) 11.Eoin Treacy (0-1) 12.Ryan Raleigh (0-2) 13.Gary Raleigh (0-4 0-3f) 14.Kenneth Darby 15.Johnny Fitzsimons

Subs: Alan O’Donoghue for E.Connolly, Robbie Quirke for K.Darby