Athea turn on the style to get the better of Ballylanders

Athea 0-14 Ballylanders 0-11

In ideal conditions, the football purists from both ends of the county were treated to a wonderful game. But at the end of the hour, it was Athea who were ahead, and on reflection, they just about deserved to win.

Johnny Murphy opened the scoring for Ballylanders with a point but pressure from Athea yielded two Declan White points and the lead. Athea had the better of the exchanges in the first quarter, but Ballylanders came back to level. They went ahead just before half-time and in lost time the equaliser came from Ger Aherne to leave it 0-6 apiece at the break.