AIB JFC Final: Ballymacelligott storm to victory at Croke Park
Ballymacelligott players celebrate with the cup after their side's victory in the AIB GAA Football Junior Club Championship final match between Ballymacelligott of Kerry and Clogher Eire Óg of Tyrone at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
AIB All-Ireland club JFC final
Ballymacelligott 1-16 Clogher Eire Og 0-13
By Paul Keane at Croke Park
Croke Park really has become a playground for Kerry football teams.
Six or so months after Jack O'Connor's Kerry senior team lit it up at GAA HQ, Kingdom representatives Ballymacelligott this time conjured the magic to take the AIB All-Ireland club JFC honours.
Behind by two points at half-time, Ballymac knew they would need to pull a strong second-half performance out of the bag and duly delivered, outscoring their opponents by 1-8 to 0-3 in that half hour or so.
It's the 12th success for a Kerry club in this competition and the first since the Clifford brothers drove Fossa across the winning line three years ago.
That win also came at the expense of Tyrone opposition and as good as Ballymac were in this one, Red Hand County representatives Clogher Eire Og will have nightmares about how this game unfolded.
The Ulster champions tallied nine second-half wides, 12 in total, and created no less than four decent goal-scoring chances in the last 10 minutes, none of which they were able to take.
That's not to suggest that the Munster men stole the win, far from it. They too had several goal chances they didn't take, two in the last few minutes, but the overall ferocity of their second-half performance meant they were deserved victors.
Donal Daly grabbed the game's only goal in the 55th minute, sliding low beyond the Clogher 'keeper to leave Ballymacelligott 1-15 to 0-11 up at that stage and just about in the clear.
Darragh Broderick, veteran Aidan Breen, Jack Joy and Daire Keane all came strongly into the game when they were really needed in that second-half too.
Ballymacelligott will also reflect on a potentially game-swinging moment that arrived as early as the fifth minute.
Joy had just drilled the club's second two-pointer, following Broderick's earlier lead at the Davin End.
The scoreboard turned over to register a 0-4 to 0-0 advantage for the Kerry men but the score was then ruled out as play was brought back for an earlier 4/3 breach.
It ended up that Ciaran Bogue had a handy tap over free for Clogher's opening score to leave Ballymac now just 0-2 to 0-1 ahead.
They still kept the throttle down and went on to open up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead despite the setback.
Breen, Broderick again and then Daly all added points. But the rest of the half belonged to Clogher who dominated the second quarter to lead by 0-10 to 0-8 at half-time.
Ciaran Bogue came increasingly into the game, finishing the half with five points, and a second Ballymacelligott breach resulted in another routine score from a Clogher free that Ryan McCaughey knocked over.
That was as good as it got for Clogher though as the southerners restarted with four points in a row to take the lead. And they stayed in pole position all the way to full-time as Clogher clocked up the wides at the other end.
Joy was direct and aggressive when he got on the ball and struck two important second-half points.
And Ballymac turned the screw when Daly grabbed that goal five minutes from time, eating up the space ahead of him and firing to the net at the Hill 16 End.
Ballymacelligott scorers: Donal Daly 1-1, Darragh Broderick 0-4 (1 tpf, 2f), Aidan Breen 0-3 (0-3f), Daire Keane 0-2, Jack Joy 0-2, Mairtin McKivergan 0-1 (0-1 45), Adam Sheehy 0-1, Micheal Reidy 0-1, Niall Collins 0-1.
Clogher Eire Og scorers: Ciaran Bogue 0-5 (0-2f, 1 tp), Ryan McCaughey 0-2 (0-2f), Conor Shields 0-2 (tp), Marc McConnell 0-2, Cillian Barkey 0-1, Michael McCaughey 0-1.
Ballymacelligott: Christy Leen; Eoin Creedon, Daniel O'Shea, Eoin Moriarty; Cathal Dunne, Tadhg Brick, Micheal Reidy; Aidan Breen, Darragh Broderick; Adam Sheehy, Mairtin McKivergan, Jack Joy; Niall Collins, Donal Daly, Daire Keane.
Subs: Dylan Dunne for O'Shea 25, Darragh Regan for Sheehy 60, Josh O'Keeffe for Collins 64, Sean Rice for Moriarty 64, Brian Cassidy for Reidy 64.
Clogher Eire Og: Rory McElroy; Sean McCaffrey, Eoin Mellon, Ruairi McCaughey; Conor Shields, Mark Bogue, Jamie Callaghan; Barry McKenna, Darragh Mellon; Sean Bogue, Ciaran Bogue, Cillian Barkey; Ryan McCaughey, Marc McConnell, Vincent Lowry.
Subs: Michael McCaughey for Lowry 34, Finbarr McCaughey for McKenna 51, Eoin McCarron for Barkey 55, Dominic McKernan for McCaffrey 59.
Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois).
