Tactical tweaks fire Ballymac to All-Ireland junior title

Ballymacelligott manager Ian Blake said his side's half-back line were "immense" in the victory over Clogher

Eoin Creedon switching to mark Ciarán Bogue was crucial to Ballymacelligott's All-Ireland Club JFC final victory over Clogher Éire Óg. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

All-Ireland Club IFC final: Ballymacelligott 1-16 (1-1-14) Clogher Éire Óg 0-13 (0-2-9) 

On another emotional day in Croke Park, a resounding second-half display brought All-Ireland championship success to Ballymacelligott.

All the trips and spills that had pockmarked their first half showing disappeared as they returned to the Croke Park field a more assured and confident outfit.

As Kerry-Tyrone junior club finals go, this emphatic second half display will rank as high, if not higher than Fossa’s six-point turnaround against Stewartstown Harps three years ago if just shy of Finuge’s against the same opposition in 2005 when the second-half margin was one point more.

Here, Ballymac outscored their opponents 1-8 to 0-3 in a period where they had an abundance of possession and their Tyrone rivals were dreadfully off target.

Some tweaks helped too. Lame after a first-half hit, Darragh Broderick moved to centre-forward, swapping with Mairtin McKivergan who was more influential in midfield. Eoin Creedon’s switch onto Ciarán Bogue favoured Ballymac as well.

“We had Tadhg (Brick) on him,” said manager Ian Blake. “Tadhg is normally centre-back. He's very influential going forward. I'm not saying Tadhg wasn't able to mark him, no, but he (Bogue) got away from him a couple of times there at the start.

“It was taking away from Tadhg's game as well, like, because Tadhg carries us up the field at times. Eoin Creedon, like, he's unbelievable.

“We talked about putting him on him at the start, like, but we didn't want to take Tadhg out of central either, like, but Tadhg got a bit of freedom then as well, so I think it worked both ways.” 

The swirling wind was more of a factor for the teams kicking away from Hill 16 and after Christy Leen had issues in the opening half, Rory McElroy had his troubles too.

Around the middle, the Ballymac half-back line was feasting on breaking ball. “They were immense, like,” said Blake. “The ball Cathal won. We missed him the last day against Grange. He was one of our main outlets, like, for kick-offs.” 

A rash of early second-half points, four without answer in less than five minutes, put Ballymacelligott into a lead they never surrendered.

Captain Daire Keane opened his account with the first and last of them, either side of Aidan Breen’s third converted free and Jack Joy’s opening score.

At the other end, Clogher’s radar was wildly off. Marc McConnell’s 36th minute point was their only score for the first 27 minutes of the second half.

Aside from that, they had eight wides and a shot that dropped short. Two of the wides were goal attempts by Ryan McCaughey and Ciarán Bogue.

“We felt maybe down that side, it was favouring the breeze in the second half,” said Clogher manager Steven McKenna. “It's hard to know, you know, it was just a bit swirly. Look, we didn't convert, that's the simple reality, we didn't take our chances, so that's where we ended up.” 

Joy’s second point in the 47th minute widened Ballymac’s cushion to four points. Keane could have put the cap on victory but his shot for goal on the spin went wide.

No fear, from the resultant kick-out, Ballymac won possession and Daly weaved his way around his marker to bulge the net. And glory was theirs.

Clogher’s couple of goal chances followed but so much of the conviction they had shown in the first half was lost with each wide they posted in the second period.

Niall Collins became the sixth and final starting Ballymac forward to score. His 59th minute point restored the seven-point gap and Clogher were playing for pride.

Ballymacelligott didn’t require intensive analysis at half-time to realise where they were going wrong. Their deficit, 0-8 to 0-10, was down to the two four-back infringements they committed, although Clogher were also guilty of breaching the equivalent three-up rule for the second time in additional time.

For the middle part of the half, their kick-outs were also going awry. Leen just couldn’t hit his targets especially on his right wing.

And then there was the profligacy. Clogher’s starlet Ciarán Bogue may have kicked three wides including a goal chance but they would have been considered lower percentage opportunities compared to the couple of wides McKivergan kicked towards the end of the half.

Ballymac certainly suffered in midfield after Broderick shipped a heavy foul challenging for a ball with Barry McKenna and the Clogher man was fortunate to avoid sanction.

Broderick battled on but was clearly suffering, although full-back Daniel O’Shea had to make way with a serious elbow injury in the 25th minute when the margin was two points.

Clogher could have been four down after five minutes but the second Ballymac two-pointer from Joy was cancelled after a three-back technical foul was highlighted to referee Seamus Mulhare.

Ballymac were undeterred and did go four up after 13 minutes only to find themselves two behind seven minutes later. Clogher made plenty of their opponents’s restart woes. Ciarán Bogue and his captain Conor Shields landed successive two-pointers and Cillian Barkey and Seán Bogue followed them with scores of the one-point variation.

Adam Sheehy broke the chain of Clogher scores and a mighty McKivergan 45 again brought Ballymac to within a point but the Ulster winners were doing enough to remain ahead.

Their respite would be short-lived.

Scorers for Ballymacelligott: D. Broderick (0-4, 2 frees, 1 tpf); D. Daly (1-1); A. Breen (0-3, frees); D. Keane, J. Joy (0-2 each); A. Sheehy, M. McKivergan (45), M. Reidy, N. Collins (0-1 each).

Scorers for Clogher Éire Óg: C. Bogue (0-5, 0-2 frees, 1 tp); M. Shields (1 tp), M. McConnell (0-2 each); C. Barkey, S. Bogue, R. McCaughey (free), M. McCaughey (0-1 each).

BALLYMACELLIGOTT: C. Leen; E. Creedon, D. O’Shea, E. Moriarty; C. Dunne, T. Brick, M. Reidy; A. Breen, D. Broderick; J. Joy, M. McKivergan, A. Sheehy; D. Keane (c), D. Daly, N. Collins.

Subs for Ballymacelligott: D. Dunne for D. O’Shea (inj 25); D. Regan for A. Sheehy (60); J. O’Keeffe for N. Collins, S. Rice for E. Moriarty, B. Cassidy for M. Reidy (all 60+4).

CLOGHER ÉIRE ÓG: R. McElroy; E, Mellon, R. McCaughey, J. Callaghan,; M. Bogue, C. Shields (c); B. McKenna, D. Mellon; S. Bogue, C. Bogue, V. Lowry; C. Barkey, M. McConnell, R. McCaughey.

Subs for Clogher Éire Óg: M. McCaughey for V. Lowry (34); F. McCaughey for B. McKenna (51); E. McCarron for C. Barkey (55); D. McKernan for S. McCaffrey (59).

Referee: S. Mulhare (Laois).