Ballymore show their credentials
AULD SHEBEEN ATHY IFC PRELIMINARY ROUND
BALLYMORE EUSTACE 3-16
ALLENWOOD 1-14
Daire Walsh AT Manguard Plus Hawkfield
Ballymore Eustace sent out a strong statement of intent at the Kildare Centre of Excellence in Hawkfield on Saturday as they convincingly defeated Allenwood in the preliminary round of the Intermediate Football Championship.
In addition to Niall Murphy’s excellent haul of 0-7, Shane Barrett, Tadhg Barrett and Sean Broderick all rattled the net to propel the Bishopsland side into the winners’ section of the competition. Brian Crowe also chipped in with a brace of points on the day when all went according to plan for an impressive Ballymore.
Fresh from a productive campaign with the Kildare hurlers, Johnny Byrne bagged 1-2 for the Sean Tierney Park outfit. Darren Judge finished the contest with 0-4 to his name, while Billy Maher and the evergreen Johnny Doyle registered three points apiece.
To their credit, Allenwood kept fighting until the end and there could yet be a kick from them later on in the competition.
While Byrne did initially break the deadlock for Allenwood, Ballymore responded with four unanswered points courtesy of Murphy (two), Crowe and Tadhg Barrett. Their opponents were playing with plenty of intent, however, as midfield partners Darragh Malone and Doyle – who turned 43 in January – split the uprights in quick succession.
Nonetheless, Ballymore were attacking with extreme confidence and enjoyed a strong purple patch either side of the first-quarter mark. Supplementing Murphy and Crowe points, Shane Barrett recorded a 1-1 salvo to give his side considerable breathing space.
Even though Judge was to contribute three points for Allenwood before the half’s end (including two efforts from play), Broderick, Shane Barrett and Murphy all found the target to offer Ballymore an emphatic 1-10 to 0-6 interval buffer. They remained in the driving seat when Murphy raised white flags either side of a Maher score for Allenwood, but they did come under significant pressure as the action developed.
Judge, Doyle, Maher and Byrne fired over successive points to bring the gap down to four on the stroke of 40 minutes. Yet, this was the cue for Ballymore to deliver a powerful scoring blitz that effectively placed the outcome beyond doubt.
After Crowe released Tadhg Barrett for a rolled finish, Broderick palmed home their third goal with 16 minutes remaining in normal time.
The industrious full-forward had preceded this effort with a point and while a Doyle free eventually halted this scoring sequence, Ballymore continued to push forward. Murphy and Shane Barrett enhanced their individual tallies with points, although there was a slight set-back for the four-time intermediate champions when Broderick was sin-binned on 51 minutes.
In his absence, Allenwood enjoyed a bright spell with Rory Moran and Maher adding singles in advance of Byrne’s 57th-minute goal. However, the final outcome was never in doubt.
Scorers: Ballymore Eustace: Niall Murphy 0-7 (1f), Shane Barrett 1-3, Tadhg Barrett, Sean Broderick 1-2 each, Brian Crowe 0-2.
Allenwood: Johnny Byrne 1-2, Darren Judge 0-4 (2f), Johnny Doyle (2f), Billy Maher 0-3 each, Darragh Malone, Rory Moran 0-1 each.
BALLYMORE EUSTACE: Tommie Archbold; Kevin Kelleher, Mark Barrett, Patrick Doyle; Joe Broderick, Michael Stewart Byrne, Callum McClintock; Caolan Halpin, Shane Barrett; Tadhg Barrett, Niall Murphy, Charlie Litton; Simon Murphy, Sean Broderick, Brian Crowe. Subs: Stephen Dwyer for Litton, Liam Broderick for J Broderick (both 54), Patrick Murphy for S Murphy, Liam Crowe for Kelleher (both 59).
ALLENWOOD: Luke Anderson; Ronan Guilfoyle, Sean Moran, Mark Delaney; Rory Moran, Fionn Moran, Steven Conlon; Johnny Doyle, Darragh Malone; Darren Judge, Johnny Byrne, Billy Maher; Scott Dunne, Aaron Lenehan, Mark Hogarty. Subs: Jack Musgrave for Conlon (26), Scott Dunne for C Moran (35).
REFEREE: Dave Coady.